Eclipsed
by Gardenia.Tea
Summary: Every creature on Earth go through a constant cycle of rebirth and death. They make the same mistakes in each life that cause perpetual wandering for an unimaginable period of time. In order to break the cycle of suffering, one must find their reason of existence . . . to obtain true happiness. OC
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: Kudos to Bones for creating Wolf's Rain. I'm obviously not the owner, and would never consider myself as one because I'm just a fan with a wild imagination and a heart for writing fanfics like the one you're about to read.

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**1. AMEND THE BODY**

_"There is another world. There is a better world. Well, there must be . . . there must be." __-Emily Browning._

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I GAVE THE DOOR A SHOVE AND NEARLY FELL.

It was dark inside, empty. I didn't bother closing the door as I staggered my way to the table at the back of the room. Dazed and disoriented, I slumped down on one of the three chairs. The soles of my feet were numb with exhaustion after dodging bullets and sprinting a mile in almost four minutes. I practiced breathing evenly for the moment, letting my head hang low.

That was when I heard the sound of rain hitting the tin rooftop. With eyes half open, I glanced sideways at the open window over my bed. A bright full moon peeked through thin sheets of scattered grey clouds high above the pine trees, making the rain glitter as it fell. The majestic scenery would have made me smile three months ago.

I leaned forward, pressing my cheek to the cold surface of the table. There was a searing stinging pain located on top of my left shoulder, and my nose wrinkled. I dug one finger deep into my skin. I gasped as I hooked my finger around the bullet and pulled it out from under raw skin, earning a sharp intake of air from between clenched teeth. And then the warm wetness began to flow freely. I could feel it soaking the arm of my jacket, hear it dripping on the wood below. But I was too tired to care about giving the bullet wound medical attention. I just wanted to rest. And so I did.

I stared at my now bright red arm with dull, empty eyes. The blood spread crimson down my arm with alarming speed, pooling rapidly on the floor. It reminded me of my sister, Lydia. She's dead now. It all began when the plague arrived.

An outbreak of a mysterious airborne disease nearly wiped out half of the world population within five short months. At least that's what I remember hearing. It took almost everybody, the children and elderly dying faster than anyone else. Hospitals overcrowded with the infected, their skin covered in deep scabs and throwing up massive amounts of black, inky blood. There was no cure. It seemed to me that the Nobles decided to take immediate action to control the pandemic from spreading - in my opinion, control was lost months ago. The plan was to kill anyone who came in contact with the plague. Kill a few to save billions. It just so happened my sister and I were at the wrong place at the wrong time. The memory was as vivid and immediate as though I were still there.

In the form of a human I carried my sister's bloody body deep into the woods, putting enough distance between the town and us. Even this far away I could hear the humans screaming. They were dying. With my vision blurred by tears I didn't see the tree roots below. My ankle got caught in the tangle, and running strong on fear and adrenaline only worsened my situation, sending me hurling forward through the air. I lost hold on my sister. I skimmed painfully against the undergrowth, twigs and sharp rocks scrapped at my face. Groaning, I rolled onto my back. The wind shifted. And then the smell hit me. Rotten, vile. I heaved and gagged. There was a smell of sickness and disease, fresh blood, slippery organs, tattered skin and burning flesh, but under all that was another scent. It was the potent odor of gasoline. They were burning the town.

In spite of all the chaos, I could not abandon her. Instead, I swallowed the acid and crawled towards her body lying motionless in a pile of vegetation. I let my human face rest on her soft wolf pelt, ignoring the sound of death miles away and the huge bullet hole that disfigured her face. I closed my eyes just to look at her, and she was smiling again - just like she always had.

_She's pretending . . . She has to be pretending._

I told myself this repeatedly. Ever since I can remember she enjoyed scaring me, jumping out from behind a tree and saying "Boo!" or giving me a heart attack by grabbing my leg while I'm half asleep. If my timing was correct then she would pull her lips back into a smile and whisper "you got scared, you got scared" in that annoying singsong voice. I would push her away, and tell her to grow up. Then she would laugh that goofy laugh. Any minute now, I thought, but nothing was uttered from her. It was then I felt moisture filling up my eyes, and I hugged her tighter, fingernails digging deep into her cold flesh. I cried out her name several times, shaking her, demanding her to wake up. I didn't want her to leave me. Selfishly, I wanted her to stay with me on this wasted earth so I wouldn't be alone.

It took me longer than it should to realize she was truly gone. But then it did come, and I felt like a thousand holes had been punched through my heart, leaving ragged gashes around the edges that throbbed and bled. I rolled to my side, and curled inward to hold myself together. Blood stained my face and clothes . . . her blood. The waves of pain towered high and washed over my head, pulling me under. I couldn't breathe. I laid alone, gasping for air.

Over time, those holes have grown larger, and then somehow merged into a single gigantic hole of destruction one cold night. The pain becoming twice as stronger, more intolerable. I'm surprised I've gone this long without the empty hole tearing me apart.

As I sat alone in the moon's blue light - listening to the water slapping the side of the boat, the pitter-patter of the rain on tin rooftops - I began to feel the loss of blood slowly sucking my consciousness along with it. My eyes were closing.

What was the point of going any further? There was nothing here for me. Nothing more than the old memories and distant laughter that dwelled inside these creaky walls, that triggered the corresponding pain - the pain that never spared me. There was nothing special about this place without my sister. No purpose, no reason. To escape this . . . this Hell, I needed to stay asleep forever. The pain and this never-ending numbness would finally come to an end. That didn't sound frightening at all. It sounded . . . comforting.

I could now see black spots blooming across my vision, becoming wider and wider, blocking out the light. Maybe - just maybe - I would see her again. For the first time in a long time, I smiled. I could feel it now, creeping slowly underneath my skin, grabbing hold of me and pulling me down into the darkness with ease. The hair on my arms rose on end. I was freezing. The cold presence of Death was at my thresholds. With my head still on the table, I glanced across the room and I saw, through the long tunnels my eyes had become, Death's dark shape coming towards me.

"Everything will be okay," I whispered.

My eyes closed, and I drifted.


	2. Chapter Two

**2. REBORN**

_"But the world fell down with some people still around. There is love, there is love to be found." _-Lisa Germano

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I WAS NINTY NINE POINT NINE PERCENT SURE THAT I WAS DEAD.

And the reason for this was because: One, I was in a meadow filled with bright yellow sunflowers - something which never grows around my home area in wasteland valley - and two, I was looking at my sister, Lydia. Sis had been dead for three months now, so that right there meant I had to be dead as well.

We were disguised as humans, just like before - before my life took a turn for the worse. I was sitting upright while she was on her back with eyes on the sky. I was more than relieved to see she hadn't changed much; her face looked the same as I remembered it: skin soft and as white as snow with long blonde locks that hugged her sweet, heart-shaped face. Her light brown eyes glanced at me, and her lips pulled up into a small smile. I smiled back. I wanted to ask her a question that I've been saving for this very moment; well, I had many - What had she been up to? How was heaven like? Was it as great as everyone said it would be? - but she opened her mouth before I had the opportunity to begin.

"Can you promise me one thing?"

My eyes widen with surprise at how her voice reechoed for a few seconds before slowly slipping away, as if the volume was being turned down on a radio.

"And what would that be?" I asked her gently, not wanting to ruin this precious moment.

Lydia shook her head. "Not until you promise me first."

I stared at her for a moment. "I promise."

Usually I wouldn't give in so easily. I guess I was simply happy to have found her in the afterlife.

"Whatever you do" - her voice was fading - "don't turn around."

I could feel my eyebrows press together in confusion. What a silly thing to worry about. "Why not, Lydia?" I really wanted to know.

But her eyes were already on the blue sky again. Bemused, I stared at her in the bright light of day. It was strange, now that I think of it, how I couldn't feel the warmth of the sun on me. A shiver trailed down my arms, raising goosebumps. I quickly wrapped my arms across my chest. Why was I so cold? My gaze fell back on Lydia. She laid on the ground, smiling contently while the sunflowers danced around her head. This bothered me more than it should, and I found myself doubting my right for existing here in this pleasant world alongside my sister. I didn't belong her. It wasn't meant to be. It never was. Now I'm not completely sure how I knew this, but something in the back of my head told me I was right.

"I'm not supposed to be here, am I?" I couldn't help asking.

She put a finger to her lips. "Enjoy the sun before it plays hide-and-seek with the clouds."

"What clouds?"

On cue, the light slowly dimmed. I looked up. Dark, angry-looking billows covered the beautiful blue with the sun nowhere in sight. The meadow was no longer as stunning as it was a second ago. The sunflowers swaying in the breeze, like ripples across a lake, looked murky and ominous beneath the growing storm. Thunder mumbled above our heads, but the smell of rain wasn't in the air . . . I shuddered.

"Are you prepared for what's to come?" Her voice was nearly inaudible this time. Like a whisper.

I looked down at her. "Should I be?"

There was an odd sound, like metal striking against each together. Even though I promised her not to, I couldn't stop myself from looking back, and regretted it the second I laid eyes on a Noble in black armor. I didn't get the chance to blink when its big, iron hand launched for my head.

"No!" I screamed, wrenching upright out of bed.

There was a second scream that I realized did not belong to me, followed by the sound of glass shattering. The sun was up, and I was sitting fully dressed in bed. I glanced, disoriented, across the dim room. My eyes found a young wolf shrouded in human form, his straight bronze hair brushed just below his jaw-line. He awkwardly squat down and began picking up broken pieces that used to be a bowl. There was no reason for fear. He smelt harmless. If anything, he feared me.

Abruptly he stood without meeting my gaze and walked fast to the dusty kitchenette that I never used. The anxious look on his face and his sloppy cleaning gave me the impression that he felt uncomfortable with my staring and wanted to leave as soon as possible. He stopped next to the table, turning his head this way and that, obviously searching for something to dump the broken pieces of pottery inside. However, because of the potent smell of fear pouring out from every pore of his body, I'd say he was looking for a rock to crawl under instead.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked him.

And then he freaked out, words coming out in a rush.

"It was raining. The door was wide open. I didn't think anyone lived here. I was hungry, and wet, and cold, and I'm sorry for breaking your bowl. Please don't kill me!"

I stared without blinking.

His blush seemed to grow deeper after each passing second - face bright red like a tomato. The warm color reminded me of blood. For a second, the memory of that night washed through my head, making me feel dizzy. I suddenly remembered where I was, and how I got here. Not really thinking at all, I took my eyes off him and looked down at my shoulder to check my bullet wound. What I found was not what I expected. Securely wrapped around my left shoulder was a brown cloth that used to be white. To my surprise, there was the absence of scorching pain underneath the dressing. Did he do this for me, I wondered, eyebrows pulling together in mystification.

"I-It took me a while to clean you up." That answered my question. My eyes trailed back to him. At the same time, he ducked his head with eyes on the floor. "There was so much blood." He continued in a low, shy voice. "I was afraid you were . . . already gone." It sounded like he edited his sentence halfway through for my sake.

I looked away afterwards, understanding what he really meant. Even though it didn't show on my face, I was disappointed. It was unfair. I thought for certain I would finally be rid of living on this empty place, spend the rest of eternity with my sister and be happy for once. Apparently, it was a vain hope. And apparently, it was his fault.

"So," He filled the silence with an uneasy laugh. "How do you feel?"

Miserable. Empty. Annoyed.

I inhaled deeply through my nose. "I'm fine."

So I lied. It wasn't absolutely necessary for him to know the truth.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny smile grow on his baby face. "That's great. I'm Toboe by the way. What's your name?"

I sighed miserably, not really interested in making new acquaintances.

"Amber." I mumbled.

"Oh, wow!" The excitement in his voice made me look at him. His face brightened, and he was no longer the shy and quiet pup I met a few seconds ago. "That name fits you perfectly!"

I made a face. It does?

"Your eyes." He explained, gesturing towards me with a wave of his hand. "They're yellow, just like the color of amber."

That never crossed my mind before. I blinked twice, still bluntly surprised. "Oh . . ." Though I hardly sounded delighted, that didn't stop his cheerful mood from dying out.

"It's nice to finally know your name." He said. "It's been driving me nuts."

"Driving you nuts?" I repeated slowly, not understanding.

He frowned at this and tried putting his sentence in other words. "I mean, a-after taking care of you for almost five days, I would keep myself busy by trying to . . . guess . . . your name," He paused, either because he noticed my confused expression never changed or had just realized how creepy that sounded. "At first I thought you looked like a-"

"Did you say I've been asleep for five days?" I interrupted him.

"Well . . . " He hesitated. "Yeah. You were in bad shape when I found you." Then he looked down, staring at nothing. "I was worried you'd never wake up."

Confusion overruled any other emotion on my face. "Why?"

"I dunno," He muttered uncomfortably, and kicked an imaginary rock on the floor. "I guess . . . I didn't want you to . . . you know,"

Actually I did. The silence rolled between the two of us. It amazed me how a total stranger felt concerned for my wellbeing. He had no idea who I was, yet out of the kindness of his heart, he stood by my side and took care of me. As I stared at him in shock, my mind traveled into the past, to that night. Before my eyes closed, I had seen a person at the door. A dark figure running towards me in slow motion. My eyes made me see what I wanted to see, but in truth it was something completely different. The blurry figure was not Death. Instead, it was this pup. I was never dead . . . so then that meant I was dreaming, dreaming a nightmare about my sister in heaven. Tears began to well up in my eyes and I quickly looked away before he noticed. It just wasn't fair. I missed her so much.

The intense quiet was shattered by a low grumble. Toboe looked up at me and smiled sheepishly, as if waiting for a scolding. He had not left my side for five whole days, so the least I could do was return the favor.

"You must be hungry." Obviously.

He laughed. "Maybe just a little."

I slid one leg out of bed.

"Don't!" I snapped my head up, alarmed. Toboe let the shattered pieces of pottery drop from his hands and began to hurry towards me with a worried expression. "You're still hurt! You should stay in bed!" He told me.

The narrowing of my eyes must have scared him because he came to a complete stop. He swallowed loudly, and I could see the lump travel down his neck. His feet scrapped lightly against the floor as he shifted his weight, preparing to run out the door if need be. Did I look that angry? Knowing that he wasn't going to argue against my decision any more, I slid my other leg over the edge and stood up. The world spun, and I waited for it to right itself before moving again. I lost more blood than I thought. I blinked a few times, clearing the haze from my vision, and took half a step forward with an unsteady balance that he was well aware of.

"I'll help you." He saw my objecting expression and quickly added, "Or not."

I staggered passed him to the open door. "I know a promising spot down the lake that's filled with fish."

The sound of food made him flash a smile. "Really?"

I gave a curt nod. "Follow me."

Without saying anything further, he obeyed and followed me out on the deck. The warmth of the afternoon sun washed over my stiff, cold limbs, bringing back life into my body. Sadness crept to my face and I took a deep breath through my nose before staggering onward.

_Stupid sun . . ._

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**A/N:** How do you like the story so far? Too cliche? A bit vague? A good read? I'm asking because this is my first Wolfs Rain fanfic, and it's been years since I last saw the anime. I hope I'm capturing the characters personality correctly. If not, let me know asap. Last thing I want is to have someone out of their character. Even I would find that annoying. Also, I want to improve my writing skills for the sake of clarity, so feel free to offer advise, constructive criticism, grammar flames. The works! But in order for that to happen, I need you to assess and review my fanfic :)

I will present a quote in each chapter that I feel goes well with the contents inside. I personally enjoy a good quote in a story. Make it more unique.

Anyway, without further adieu . . . onward to chapter three!


	3. Chapter Three

**3. ALL OF THIS PAST**

_"It's not too late to feel a little more alive. You gotta escape before we start to vaporize." __-Broken Bells_

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SEVEN DAYS HAVE PASSED SINCE I MET TOBOE.

And during those days, I have grown to learn that he was very caring, considerate and a whiner. The smallest of concerns sent him curling into a huge ball of anxiety with his tail between his legs. Now, I understand the impossible was possible, and that anything could happen, but was it really necessary to be worried about getting attacked inside a lake - the very same lake I've been living on for more than a year - by a monster who had an appetite for wolves? Hardly. Even though I've mentioned this to him before, that didn't seem to make a difference.

"The water is too calm, and I can't see the bottom at all,"

"Are you sure this is the only lake around?"

"Did you see that? I saw something move in the water!"

"I don't like it here. Can we please go look for another lake?"

Usually I ignored him.

It was times like these that made me wonder how such a pup survived alone in the wild.

Then again, he was not always alone. Normally, I was on zombie mode when he talked to me so I could only grasp small details about his story for being in these parts of the woods by himself. He said he was traveling with three other wolves, and if I'm not mistaken, they were on their way to a place called Paradise. I've never heard of it, but the place sounded promising enough. Also, he mentioned Nobles attacking them, and something dealing with flowers. Flowers? Now that I'm on the topic, what did flowers have anything to do with the story? I must have added that somehow. The point here was he got separated from his pack during the attack, which explained why he was alone.

For the life of me I can't remember why I'm letting him stick around. Usually I'm not so nice.

I take what I said back. I actually did know why. The pup saved my life, and despite his annoying character, he was trust worthy too. You don't come across those types anymore. At least, not around these parts. Besides, he's completely innocent and naive of the evil around him - the real world. I imagined him lasting two weeks in the wild. It would only be a matter of time until he died from hunger, that or the Nobles would get him.

A chill that had nothing to do with the cold weather made me shiver. Ever since I had that horrific nightmare with Lydia in the beautiful sunflower meadow, the Noble in black armor has been haunting me. It haunted me whenever I slept. Every night I had the same nightmare. You would think I would get immune after dreaming about the same nightmare for seven days straight. But it never failed to scare me, ending only when I woke myself up, screaming. Toboe wasn't getting much sleep either, and the purple shadows under his eyes proved it. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran away one night without telling me. I would probably do the same thing. And yet here he was, amazingly enjoying my company and my screams that went off at all hours of the night. The pup was too damn nice for his own good.

"Is something wrong with it?"

I looked up, and stared at Toboe.

"Is what wrong?" I asked, sounding a little flat, even to me. I made an effort to pay attention, and it wasn't easy. I was so used to being in a daze everyday.

"My catch." He explained. "Is something wrong with it?"

My eyes drifted to the dead catfish in front of me as I slowly tried to grasp the meaning of his words.

"You haven't touched it yet. You don't like it, do you?" But before I could open my mouth, he quickly stood up. "I can catch you another one!"

I raised one eyebrow. "I thought you were scared of the lake."

"Me?" Toboe looked surprised. He waved a dismissive hand at me. "No way. I'm a wolf. I'm scared of nothing."

I watched him with a disbelieving glare as he marched to the door with his head held high, nose in the air. Even so, I didn't buy his macho act.

"Then I suppose you won't be frightened on your way to the lake . . . alone . . . at night."

He froze in his place with a foot hanging in the air; no doubt had just realized this himself. I didn't need to see his face to know he was rethinking his next move. He backtracked with a nervous smile. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's very late out. The fish might be sleeping, ya know."

"Right, because it's well past their bedtime." My voice was dull, completely toneless.

Toboe sat down on the floor across my way, oblivious to my pathetic attempt at sarcasm. "I'm sorry, Amber." He smiled apologetically.

"Don't be." I closed my eyes. "I wasn't hungry to begin with."

This made him buck his head back with raised brows. "But you haven't eaten anything for seven days. Today makes eight!"

I shrugged. There was no need to explain my lack of appetite was genetic. My sister and I usually went for several weeks without eating. No big deal.

"Doesn't your stomach growl?" He asked, raising his catch to his mouth.

My eyes slowly opened. "No."

"Huh," He said thoughtfully before ripping off a mouthful of raw flesh. He chewed quickly, and swallowed before saying, "A friend of mine could live on an empty stomach too. He said something insane like not eating anything for three months. I could never go that long without food. That's like saying no to a belly rub."

I could feel my face crumble. "A belly rub?"

"Yeah, they're amazing!" He said between mouthfuls of fish. "You never had one?"

My cheeks flushed. "Of course not. That's humiliating." I said through clenched teeth, irritated that he would even ask me.

"What's so embarrassing about someone rubbing your tummy?" Toboe was genuinely confused.

"Everything." I growled. "I wouldn't want my stomach to be touched by anyone."

Toboe frowned. He turned his head the other way, muttering something that I didn't catch. He remained this way for fifteen seconds - I counted - before glancing sideways at me and saying, "You know what I think?" I responded with a glare for asking me such an impossible question. He took a stand then, and pointed a finger caked with dirt at me. "You should follow me to the ends of the world!"

I never blinked; I was too busy wondering if the pup was mentally handicapped. "Why would I do that?" I finally asked him, sounding barely interested.

"You mope a lot." He said without hesitation. "And a little adventure will do you some justice." His arms folded in front of his chest, and he nodded his head as if agreeing with himself. "Yup. That's exactly what you need."

My eyes narrowed. That was hardly my antidote. "No, thank you. I'm perfectly fine where I am." I pretended to be interested in my cold meal, scratching its slimy flesh with my finger. In my peripheral vision, I could see Toboe lean forward, scrutinizing my face very closely. I looked up, glaring.

"What?" I snapped.

He slowly sat back down. "What's keeping you here, Amber? It's so . . . dead."

Dead.

That word ran through my head, slowly, like I never heard it before in my life. But I had heard of it. Seen it. Even experienced it. My hands began to shake on their own accord. I squeezed them into fists, so tight my fingernails dug into the skin but not deep enough to draw blood. I knew exactly why I stayed. I wanted to be wrong about Lydia being dead. I didn't want to leave because somewhere deep inside me was a lingering hope that she might return home. After three months of waiting I know now that was a stupid thing to hope for. I was stupid. So, so very stupid! How could she come back from the dead? She was gone. Forever. She was never coming back. I quickly looked down when I felt the warm wetness burn my eyes. I bit my lip, and then saw how dead this place really looked. The house was bare, echoing empty of atmosphere from the floor to ceiling, just like everywhere else.

"Amber?" His voice was full of concern.

I realized that I hadn't given him an answer yet. I took a deep, shuddering breath. "Nothing . . ."

"Then come with me." He suggested eagerly. "To Paradise."

My eyes flashed up with the first spark of emotion I'd had in too long to even recognize it.

"Paradise?"

There was no perfect word to describe how much I wanted to give into his idea, let go and journey to a place that might actually exist. If this was Hell, then there had to be a Heaven . . . a Paradise. But as much as I tried to believe, there was always that small, frightened voice in the back of my head telling me what if you forget about her once you leave? Forget about the way she smiled, looked, and smelt? Special memories about your sister that only this house contained? For the second time in my life, I didn't know what to do. The first being not knowing what to do without Lydia. And now this.

Take a risk. Don't take a risk. Stay in the house. Search for Paradise.

I shook my head. "I don't want to forget,"

Toboe was confused. "Forget about what? How this place is making you miserable?"

My grimace was weak and unimpressive. "I'm not miserable."

"But you are." He corrected. "Everyday I see you . . . lifeless. Like nothing matters to you anymore. You even lost interest in eating." He waved his hand to the untouched fish in front of my crossed legs. "How could you say you're not miserable?"

This accusation stung, it was like taking a bullet. I tried to put some animation into my response.

"This house has too many special memories that if I do leave, I'm afraid I'll forget them. I'd rather die then to let that happen." There. I said it. And it was all true. Nothing meant more to me than my sister; not even my own life.

He worded his reply carefully this time. "I don't think you'll forget something that was very special to you. Then that would mean it wasn't really special at all."

I sat quietly for a moment or two, slowly registering what he told me, and surprisingly found that he was right. Even though Lydia was gone, she still played a huge role in my memories. She would never be forgotten as long as I keep thinking about her. At that very moment, my heart convulsed, tearing me from inside out. I made it look casual as I crossed my arms over my chest before the pain knocked me to my hands and knees in a torture of loss. There were too many memories, too many sorrowful and joyful memories that bonded me here. So then the pain will never end. But I want it to end. How could it when I don't want to leave?

I tried to come up with a plan that will convince myself to go with Toboe. I closed my eyes and forced my expression to be indifferent, but the effort was a waste when I opened my mouth. My voice trembled. "L-let's say, theoretically, if I were to agree to your idea and follow you to the ends of the world, to Paradise, would you know how to get there?"

He didn't say anything for a long while, and I prayed he hadn't noticed my discomfort.

"I don't know where it is," he finally answered, "but we can find my pack. They'll show us the way."

"And where would we look for them?" I choked, and my eyes flew open to check if he heard. He was staring at me in a way that told me he had.

"Are you all right?" He asked as he tilted his head to one side.

A wave of pain kept my mouth from opening, so I nodded my head instead.

"Okay," Toboe mumbled, the concern never leaving his brown eyes. "I remember we were heading towards a city before we got attacked. Junction City."

"And where is that located?"

He looked down. When he hadn't said anything, I wondered if he was trying to remember the exact directions to the city. Finally, he looked up at me under his lashes.

"Maybe if we asked a human for directions-"

I interrupted him by growling.

This upset him. "What's wrong with asking for directions?"

"I have nothing against asking for directions, I just don't want to ask a human for directions. I don't like them." Because they killed her, my sister. But I wasn't going to tell that to him. "If there's one thing I've learned, you can never let your guard down around them. They're dangerous creatures."

"In that case, you won't need to." He assured. "I can ask them for directions."

"And watch them shoot you down?" I shook my head in disapproval.

That shouldn't be a good thing, so why was he smiling so big that I could actually see the piece of fish meat stuck between his teeth. "You're worried about me," If it was even possible, his smile grew wider.

"Stick to the subject." I hissed unkindly.

Toboe laughed before placing both hands behind his head, leaning back a little. "Well, they can't shoot me if I'm in this form. I look like a human."

I made a face. "Do you really want to take that chance?"

His mouth dropped into a frown, serious now. "Not all humans are bad, you know."

"I'd have to see it to believe it."

I wanted to get up now. This was ridiculous, a waste. And that was when I realized the pain in my chest stopped hurting completely. Had arguing with Toboe help stop the pain? I couldn't ponder into it because he began to speak again, but his voice was different this time. He sounded . . . sad.

"A human raised me. Granny was very kind for a human." In his eyes I could see he was reliving the delicate piece of memory as he stared at the floor between us. "She gave me warm meals every night, and rubbed my belly every morning. We had each other, and needed no one else. She even gave me this as a gift." He showed me the silver bracelet spiraled around his right wrist. Then his mood shifted, and the story continued in a voice that was barely inaudible. "One evening, after returning home from a long day at the market, I welcomed her back by licking her face. She told me to stop, that she couldn't breathe . . . but I missed her so much. Then she collapsed on the floor. At first I thought she was sleeping . . ." Toboe covered he's eyes with one arm.

I could smell wetness and salt. He was crying. I sighed, feeling a little guilty for making him remember such a sad time in his past. I waited for him to calm down, and he eventually did. He took in three deep breathes before letting his arm drop from his face. He wasn't looking at me, eyes on his lap.

"I never meant to kill her," He mustered before sobbing.

In a way, we were similar. He lost someone he loved, and it was still killing him inside.

Our moment was cut short when I caught the lit candles on the counter flickering. My brows furrowed in confusion. What the hell?

It all happened very quickly then.

My entire home jerked roughly to the side, and I was thrown back. As I rolled uncontrollably I could hear glass smashing and the clanking of hard objects hitting the floor all around me. But louder than any other sound in the room was a tear and crash. My body came to a stop when my injured shoulder hit the wall. I cried out in pain.

"Why did your boat move?" I heard Toboe ask me from somewhere close by. His voice filled with alarm.

I grasped my throbbing shoulder. "Hell if I know,"

It was then I felt it, as if something sharp punctured the back of my head, slicing through my skull and exploding out from my forehead in a terrifying rush of white-hot pain. I think I screamed. With eyes wide open I saw everything come at me in a flash. Time seemed to slow down as if someone pressed the Paused button. The black and white images clouded my vision:

_They are coming to drain my life—all in black armor, the color of Death. I see the human soldiers with their man made weapons shooting, lights flickering, empty rounds falling, and ear exploding sounds—BANG!—yes, they are coming to spill wolves blood, my blood. I can run, but I won't stop, won't look back! 'Run, Toboe!'_

My brain spluttered when all the images suddenly stopped, sending my head reeling. As quick as it came, the world started up again, returning back to its normal speed. I blinked, trying to make sense of what just happened. The place where I saw the human soldiers attack Toboe and I looked similar to the inside of my home, except everything was in disarray. It was clear to me that we were in potential danger. I acted on a whim.

"Move it!" I barked at Toboe.

He stared at me. "What did I do?"

"Run, Toboe!"

There was no time to explain. I grabbed the startled pup by the arm and he ran with me towards the door when something crashed through the wall. I didn't look back to see how many invaded my home. I was too scared. Before I had the chance to reach for the front door, it exploded outward. The blast blew Toboe and me backwards onto the floor, and I lost my grip on his arm. Shattered fragments of wood and a cloud of dust flew over me. For a moment, the world went silent and the only sound was the ringing in my ears. I opened my eyes slowly to find fire, everywhere. The old, dry wood of my boathouse ignited. Through the flames, I saw the furnace had fallen to its side. The metal door was wide open and the fire inside must have rolled out onto the floor. _That's what I heard earlier before colliding into the wall,_ I recollected with surprise.

Movement at the entrance caught my attention. A black figure stepped forward, and I swore under my breath. The two soldiers were oblivious to me as they marched into the dark, oily smoke, straight to Toboe. He lied motionless underneath the wreckage. Why wasn't he moving? They were going to kill him!

The rush of adrenaline surged through my body, overpowering the fear in an instant, and I plunged forward. My khaki skin and blonde hair were quickly replaced with a white pelt. With my ears pressed flat against my head and the fur on my back standing on end, I quickly closed in on my target. I watched the gun barrel swing in my direction.

Bang!

The bullet ricocheted against the wall. With a cry of surprise the soldier staggered backwards and fell with me on top. I clenched my enormous fangs over the cannon and shook my muzzle violently, forcing it from the human's grip. I succeeded. The weapon spun across the floor, disappearing into the blaze. I leaped away before the second soldier had the chance to empty his gun in my head. His aim was horrible, shooting at random as I circled around him to avoid the wild hot bullets. I saw my chance and took it by jumping on his back. My fangs sank deep into warm flesh, blood sprayed everywhere. The human threw his head back and cried out in agonizing pain.

Gloved hands snagged my hind legs and hurled me off the screaming human. My back hit the wall in a bone-cranking sound, and I crumbled to the floor. Blinking the red mist of pain from my eyes, I was relieved to find Toboe standing in wolf-form.

"Amber!" The smoke made him cough and choke. "We need to get out of here!"

By now the roaring flames had become higher, and the thick billows of black smoke made it hard to breathe. The soldiers, I thought suddenly. I turned my head and saw the human struggling to pick up his fallen comrade as blood poured from his neck. I took this as our cue to escape. Through the haze of ash, I desperately sought for an opening. To my surprise, and fear, I couldn't find any. The heat had intensified, as well as the fire. I tried to think through the panic. It was then the huge hole in the wall caught my attention, but the only problem was the high wall of hot flames blocking it.

No matter, it's our only option.

"Toboe, follow me!" My voice sounded rough, and my throat felt scratchy after inhaling the soot-thick air. "I know a way out of here."

We broke into a sprint.

"You're crazy!" He accused behind me, noticing the direction I was heading. "I'm not going through there!"

"Yes, you will!"

"It's impossible!"

"JUST DO IT!"

In one fluent motion, my hind legs crouched and my backbone bent low. With every ounce of strength bestowed in me, I pushed off the floor and into the furious inferno.

I kept my eyes closed as I soared through the air. I heard the flames snarling angrily against my ears, and felt the heat rolling alongside my entire body, so hot that it stung my skin. But only for a short moment. I sliced through the surface of the water. It was icy, colder than I thought. My eyes opened and I kicked my limps, plunging upward in the freezing black water. My head broke the surface, gasping for air. There was a splash nearby. I turned and saw Toboe dog peddling towards me, trying to keep his head above water. So he wasn't such a pup after all.

Toboe quickly climbed on shore first. He shook his wet pelt, droplets of water went flying. I ground to a halt where the water shallowed, staring at the dancing light of orange on the surface that reflected my burning house. I wasn't sure if I should look back. In my head I could picture the fire swallowing my home, tearing it apart. Once it had its fill, my boat would sink deep into the darkness of the lake. I was gasping when the bright light slowly disappeared. No! Abruptly, I turned around, but it was too late. My heart dropped. There was nothing left, only the thick silver bubbles gurgling on the surface where my home once floated. I looked down, fighting back the tears that threatened to escape. Then I looked up, and I could almost see Lydia sitting on the lakeshore. Our eyes met, and she smiled.

"I'm sorry about your home." His voice jarred me from my small reverie, and Lydia's body dissolved before fading in the air. "If I knew those humans were gonna' follow me, I would have never-"

"Don't," I muttered lightly, interrupting him. "Just . . . don't worry about it."

The tittering of the night animals sounded loud in the quiet.

"So," he said, "does this mean you're gonna' look for Paradise now?"

I sighed, and turned back. Toboe was staring at me, his expression hopeful.

"Sure." I said.

He gave a loud "WAHOO!" and I watched him gallop into the forest, leaving behind a trail of paw prints in the wet dirt. There was one thing I was sure of, if I was sure of anything. Nothing really goes your way in life. You may want to live alone on a peaceful lake, far from civilization where the concerns of life were almost impossible to reach you. But there was always a fifty percent chance you might never get that wish. Something, or someone, could one day walk up to your doorsteps, break a few bowls, and then complain peevishly. Your plans get changed, and the usual schedule that you've followed for more than half your life gradually falls out of proportion - chaotic.

Toboe's head popped out from the forest fringe. "Come on, Amber!"

Even so, you can't help but wonder if things happen for a reason. Are you supposed to ignore the butterflies fluttering in your gut, say 'Oh, well' and accept change - a change that might either end in happiness or tragedy?

Well, there was only one way to know.

I ran across the shore, and entered the ever encroaching dark forest where Toboe waited for me.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you so much for reviewing guys, and for giving my story a chance despite how close it came to being obvious in the sad department. I promise my story is not like that. There is more to my character, and I'm pleased to know you guys approve of her :) Amber is that type of character who is not too fond of change. She feels more safe staying with the familiar. However, sometimes we need someone to introduce us to new things in order to remove that closed frame of mind. The title of this chapter was inspired by the song: All of this past by Sarah Betten. I basically had it on repeat while writing this chapter. The lyrics fit perfectly.

Continue to review guys! The more advice I receive, the more inspired I am to write. Well, actually, I would still write . . . but it makes a major spirit uplifter knowing there's other people who think your story is cool material.


	4. Chapter Four

**4. A SHORT REST**

_"Don't you turn around. Have faith in what you choose cause life can sense your attitude. I don't know how. You've got to realize that hope looks in your eyes, if you look away it flies. Lets look forward." -Adem_

* * *

THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD LAST THIS LONG WITHOUT STRANGLING HIS NECK.

Sure I thought about it plenty of times, but I always put an end to the crazy idea. I was better than that. Patience, Amber. Patience. I reminded myself whenever I reached my breaking point. Sometimes it was hard.

"Why is it so hot?"

Why can't you be quiet for one minute? I thought to myself. At this point, his mouth should be sore and tired after complaining since the break of dawn. Yet there it was, animatedly moving with words pouring out from it. Though if there was any world record for lasting the longest in whining, Toboe would win. One minute he would be complaining about how much the smell was making his head hurt, and then he would change the subject to naming a list of things he wished to eat; as if I'd give a damn. Doesn't he understand how annoying it was to listen to him? How much it irritated me to the point that I might, MIGHT, leave him here?

Obviously I would know it was damp, and hot, and humid. He wasn't the only one up to his knees in a smelly marsh.

"Amber, I'm tired. Are you tired?"

My pointy shoulders tensed. I don't feel like talking. I wish to walk in silence. Maybe if I ignored him he would stop talking. It was worth a try. My mind wandered from his annoying voice, searching for something to get my head wrapped up in. I looked up. Branches. Insects. Moss. Eh, that won't work. Looking down, I found my knees that weren't submerged under brown clumpy water. Perfect. _Left, right, left, right_ Amber. _left, right, left, right_ Ambeeeer._ left, right, left, right_ Hey, Amber! _Ugh!_

I twisted around and at the top of my lungs I yelled, "WHAT?"

There was a flutter of wings as the crows fled from the branches above our heads. We stood in silence before the chatter of the swamp inhabitants started up again.

Carefully opening one eye, he glanced at me. "Can we take a break?" Asked Toboe, timid and cautious.

Resist the urge to be mean. Resist the urge to be mean.

"Sure,"

He smiled. "Really?"

"No." I turned around, sloshing through the disease infested waters. Sometimes I had no control over my actions.

"Why not?" He groaned as he staggered after me. "We've been walking for two days without food or sleep. I need a break."

"Try distracting yourself." I suggested matter-of-factly, ducking under a low branch.

His silence was comical. I pictured him eyes narrowed, mouth pressed tightly together as if he tasted something sour. "I understand you want to get out of here as quick as possible,"

_You think?_

"But how about a fifteen minute break?" He negotiated. "That's not too long, right?"

In fact he was right. A break was not a problem. I could use a good long rest. My body was practically begging me to stop – knees shaking with exhaustion, sore achy muscles – but one thing kept me from giving in. Fear. I didn't want to rest because that would encourage sleep, which also meant having to relive my nightmare. I didn't want to be in that horrible sunflower meadow where my sister does nothing to help me, no matter how many times I called out to her.

_ My hand was extended out for her to take. "Please, sister!" A hint of fear broke my voice. "Please,"_

_ She regarded me with a gentle smile as I dragged my heavy body on the field towards her. _Why aren't you helping me,_ tears were beginning to well in my eyes, _why aren't you helping me, sister?_ I could feel the Noble getting closer, but I didn't dare look back. I put a hand in front of me, grabbed the lush grass and pulled myself forward. It was then I felt something hard strike down on my spine. There was a sickening snap, and then pain shot up my neck. I let out a scream that pierced the air. The Noble crushed my back with the heel of his metal boot, pinning me to the ground. _

_ My lips quivered as I slowly looked up. Though my life hung by a thread, Lydia stood up and walked away from me. I yelled out her name!_

I shook my head, ridding the images that hurt. My chest constricted, and I pressed my hand against it to alleviate the pain. No way would I go through that terrible experience again. So to put bedtime off, I ran and ran. But unlike me, Toboe needed sleep. It wasn't his fault I had nightmares. The more I thought about it, the guiltier I felt. I stopped walking.

"Fine . . ."

His sloshing came to a stop too. "What was that?"

"We will take a break."

Silence.

And then . . .

"You're not being mean this time are you," He asked slowly, cautious.

I sighed. "No."

"ALRIGHT!"

I fully turned around to face him with hands on my hips, giving him a stern look. "But first we need to get out of this horrid place."

The next thing I knew, Toboe rushed passed me.

"Last one there is a smelly puppy!" He shouted back to me over his shoulder.

Even though the cheater took off running before I could get the chance to blink, he didn't get too far. It just so happened the ground level got deeper ahead. Of course I had no idea about this until Toboe's head disappeared under the brown surface.

"Whaa-"

Splash!

Well, at least he stopped talking.

* * *

A few hours later we finally reached dry land and we took a break as promised. With a sigh of content, Toboe slumped down at a random spot, ignoring the damp forest floor. He seemed more than relieved to be off his feet, stretching out his legs with a sigh.

A fallen tree laid on its side, creating a natural bench not too far away. I stepped over the ferns, and took a seat. I leaned forward, and placed my chin in my hands. This was a bad idea. I should have known, but where else was there to go? I didn't have anything, not even a home to call my own anymore. I was like every other wolf on this wasteland planet - a stray. That thought increased the despondency growing deep inside of me. I tried not to mope. Small pools left over from last night's shower, held high in the leaves above me, slowly trickled down to the earth. A drop came down perfectly on the center of my head. Nice, I thought moodily. The ice, cold wetness made me shiver.

It felt strange, and at the same time wonderful to be out in the world. Strange because I was unfamiliar with the area. The farthest I've traveled from home was about half a mile - where I found the spot in the lake filled with catfish. And wonderful because, for some reason, everything was very clear; as if my head surfaced out of some black pool. I was aware of everything - sight, smell, the feel of the brisk wind blowing against my face, different sounds the world made. Toboe was right, I did need adventure in my life. Though I had nothing, I still had hope - the hope of coming across more happiness. So this might be a bad idea, but it would be worth it when I got to Paradise.

Another thing I noticed was my chest pains are not constant. On some days I don't even get them. Strange. Part of me wondered if hanging out with the obnoxious pup had anything to do with it. Does he help me forget about the pain?

"Looks like rain," Toboe said, glancing up at the sky through the layer of foliage.

It was overcast, with a few patches of blue in the sky.

"Yeah, looks like rain, all right." I said.

He turned his head and found me behind the tall ferns. "How's your shoulder?"

"My wound healed three days ago." I said. "Didn't I tell you?"

Toboe stared at me with a thin line of stress between his eyebrows. He lowered his head. "No," he mumbled, "you didn't."

"Oh, it must have slipped my mind then." I said honestly, and regretted it when I saw the corners of his lips drop into a frown. At that moment, I learned Toboe was also very sensitive. I tried to lighten the mood. I sat upright and made my voice sweet. It was unsuccessful. "Thanks for taking care of my shoulder."

He looked up at me, and smiled blissfully anyway. It was so easy to make Toboe happy.

"Anytime." He chirped.

On the ground, I spotted a large beetle. It slowly inched its way to my feet.

Toboe brought his knees to his chest, and hugged his legs. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I invited without thinking, eyes locked on the bug crawling into my personal space.

"How did you . . . get that bullet wound?" He asked me.

"I have no idea why the human shot me." I squashed the beetle with the toe of my shoe before it could touch me. It's yellow insides sprayed everywhere. "I guess it was for what I am."

"For being a wolf?" Toboe raised his voice, shocked.

I shrugged.

In a much calmer voice he said, "That's horrible."

"Human's are horrible." I corrected him.

This time he didn't bring up his not-all-humans-are-horrible excuse, and I wasn't going to either. While staring at the moist ground, Toboe furrowed his brows in deep concentration - I learned he usually made that face when he thought hard about something. Then he looked up at me. "But you live miles away from the closest city. Why would any human dare to step out into this forest?"

I paused to think of an answer. "He looked like a hunter."

Toboe's crumbled his face in disbelief. "It still doesn't make sense. They don't really hunt nowadays."

My eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"I'm wondering why that human would hunt in a place far from home." He explained. "And risking the chances of catching the Black Sickness."

"I could care less." I grumbled. "He almost blew my arm off."

"So what happened?" He asked.

I sighed. Where to begin? "I had a craving for rabbit, so I went to hunt in the forest. There was nothing. Not even a bird. Since it had rained earlier that day all the animals were still in hiding. It was getting darker, and I decided to retrace my steps back home, thinking I should try my luck tomorrow morning when the sun was out. That was when I came face to face with him. I will never forget that human. He had grey hair, and rough wrinkles around his eyes. He wore a trench coat, and a beat-up hat. But the first thing I saw - before anything else - was the shotgun he held in his hands. The second he took aim, I ran in the other direction. A bullet flew passed my head, and I ran faster. Amazingly, it took only one shot to knock me to my knees."

Toboe made his eyes wider. "Oh, no!"

"I'm just glad I escaped with my arm." I could almost feel the smoke and hot lead pouring through my shoulder.

He nodded his head vigorously, agreeing with me.

Then I stood up, folding my arms over my chest. "But I have to admit, for a human, he had a good eye for shooting me at the speed I was going."

He placed his chin on his knees, staring at the soggy ground below his feet. "These hunters are becoming more persistent each year,"

I ignored him - this time not intentionally. "Ready to go?"

His wide eyes flitted to me. "Now? But we just sat down."

Why wasn't I surprised to hear that? "You're tired from all the walking, I get that. But we have to keep moving. If we don't get out of the forest by nightfall another day will be added to our trip, and we won't reach the city in time." I was already walking away.

"In time for what? Amber, why are you in such a hurry to reach the city anyway?" Arching his back, Toboe stretched his long arms by reaching for the sky. "It's not going anywhere." He said while yawning.

I didn't look back at him. "Because your pack might declare you dead after not being able to find you and move on to Paradise without us."

Toboe paused in mid stretch. That was all I had to say to convince him. "Good point." He hopped to his feet and rushed after me.

We set off in a northwesterly direction - the same direction Toboe said he came through last week after separating from his pack. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I avoided the branches above and the roots below as I sprinted forward. Lagging behind by twenty feet was Toboe, trying, with as much strength his legs can offer him, to not loose sight of me. But I couldn't stop now. The smell of salt was stronger than the other night when I first picked up the scent. We were very close. The excitement bubbled inside my stomach, rising.

"How much further!" I heard him shout.

"Just a little more!" I shouted back.

I didn't realize how fast I was moving. All the browns and greens of the forest had bled together into one color. And then, abruptly, I pushed past the chest-high ferns, and leaped out into the baking heat. My soggy footfalls were replaced with a crunching sound as I ran over warm, orange sand.

"We made it out!" Toboe said excitedly. "I'd never thought I'd be happy to see a desert."

I was too overwhelmed to speak, because far across the dry barren stood Junction City.

Our first destination.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh my goodness, I have so much fun creating conversations for these two odd companions. Once again, I thank you for your helpful reviews. It's always nice to know my story is going in the right direction. Yay!


	5. Chapter Five

**5. JUNCTION CITY**

_"He said I was his friend, which came as a surprise. I spoke into his eyes, 'I thought you died alone a long long time ago.'" -David Bowie_

* * *

WE ARRIVED AT TWILIGHT.

This was my first time in a city, and I already hated it. There were noise and trash, traffic signs and buildings instead of earth and trees that I grew up with in the wild. I also had trouble walking among so many humans. In the forest I rarely came across a human, but this city held thousands. So naturally I was uncomfortable. The muscles in my body twitched and tensed each time we rounded the street corners. Every where I looked, I saw groups of people preaching about the end of days, shops with signs that read Vaccine Here, and humans wearing masks that covered their mouths. Junction City was no forest. It was in every way new to me. I didn't know what to expect. But the one thing that bothered me the most . . . Toboe was a terrible navigator.

"I'm not lost. I'm just unfamiliar with this place. And another thing-"

I blocked him out at that point. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like correcting the pup for once. Maybe I was tired or fed up. Or a combination of both. Rather than barking at the pup, I chose the opposite. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you stay quiet and just glare at the person, hoping the obvious would hit them hard on the head? Well, this was exactly like that. Now, I was no genius but commonsense told me being "lost" and "being unfamiliar with a place" are two things that basically mean the same thing. Pulling my knees closer to my chest (Toboe had suggested we use our disguise to rid any suspicion), I stared at one of the abandon buildings across the street.

From what I saw, it was in bad condition. All of the windows were shattered, and the brick walls were covered in strange symbols. A couple of dirty humans stood around a trash can with fire crackling inside. Among them was a small child. He rubbed his tiny hands together before reaching out to the flames. Under greasy hair, his huge dark eyes found mine. We stared at each other. Then he stuck his tongue out. I was taken aback. Not knowing what else to do, I stuck out my tongue too. The boy giggled, probably at how ridiculous my face looked.

"Besides," Toboe turned to look at me, "It's difficult to find someone when the place smells a lot like ashes mixed with rotten eggs."

At least that part was true.

I wrinkled my nose. "This city does reek."

And it reeked for two reasons. One, spending four hours in a city populated with large crowds of humans sucked. And two, the city had a bad odor, like smelling sulfur, which also sucked. So to put it simply, cities suck.

"Yeahhh," Toboe slumped on the curb, staring at the ground without really looking at it. There was that look again - like he let down the whole world. I watched his face fall in his hands.

I sighed. From the moment I saw Junction City up close, I knew finding his pack was going to be difficult. No, let me rephrase that. It was going to be a pain in the ass.

"I don't get it. Why can't I sniff them out?" The pup was beating himself up for something he had no control over. I shook my head. "I don't remember it being this hard for me."

"Maybe they never came through here." Though I was really trying to divert his mind from drowning in despair, it was possible. "They could have followed a different route into the city."

He looked at me wistfully. "You really think so?"

"Pretty sure." The city was big after all. "Question is: which route?"

Toboe groaned at that. He put his face in his hands again, mumbling about something I couldn't comprehend. I looked away from him, refusing to think our plan was doomed to failure so early in our journey. The city was massive - reminding me of a maze - with several claustrophobic streets, and narrow alleys. Take a wrong turn and you find yourself lost. Judging by the skeevy neighborhood, and the homeless humans that walk the empty street, we were _very _lost. No matter which direction I looked, a compact cluster of buildings and skyscrapers were all I could see. I braced myself for an inevitable panic attack, and hugged my knees tighter. I missed the open space of the forest.

"You two look lost,"

I twisted around. The stranger had to be close to forty. He had short, curly black hair. His face was scruffy and grimed with dirt, as if he hadn't taken a bath for several days. I was proven correct when the wind shifted and I got a good whiff of his foul body odor. My hand flew to my nose. There was another scent. It was faint, but no doubt he was a wolf.

Toboe choose to endure the smell, breathing through his mouth. "Well," He hesitated before looking at me for permission. "We are lost."

The stranger grinned, and I noticed a gap between his two front teeth. "Anything that I can do?" He offered, never taking his small black eyes off me. I didn't like how he towered over us, like a cat about to attack a vulnerable mouse. So I took a stand. He was several inches taller then I. My head barely reached his chest. The stranger stepped back, giving me a really long up and down look. Half of me wanted to claw at his ugly eyes, while the other half - the more sensible side - chose to get answers out of him.

"How long have you been in this city?" I asked.

His eyes stopped on mine when he saw me narrow them into slits. A smirk played on his flaky lips. "Hmm, I would say . . . for about ten years or so."

"Then you must have picked up the scent of three wolves recently,"

He pondered over his next words, I could tell on his face. Sirens went off somewhere in the distance, shattering the quiet.

"The two of you are the only wolves that I know of." He finally said, tucking his dirty hands inside the pockets of his jacket.

"What?" Toboe panicked. "But there has to be other wolves here!"

"Then maybe they are." The city wolf said. "I usually don't get out much. I'm too busy working every day."

"Work?" I repeated, not believing my ears. "Since when does a wolf work?"

I must have struck a nerve. The city wolf's friendly face melted into a hard scowl. "I don't know if you've noticed, but this is a human's world now." I flinched at the hostility in his voice. "We no longer run the rules like we used to. Wolves are becoming extinct. So in order to survive we blend in with the humans - we work like a human, we live like a human."

As always, I couldn't hold my tongue. "I'd rather catch the Black Sickness and die a horrible death than live my days as a mindless human."

For some reason that amused him. "I like your spunk, kid. The name's Gino. And you two are?"

"I refuse to give my name to a bi-polar wolf." I said unkindly.

"You can call me Toboe. And this is Amber." I reframe from shoving Toboe when he said my name. However, I gave him a death glare. He slowly inched away.

Gino grinned approvingly. "Nice to meet you both. So I take it you're searching for some friends."

Toboe nodded his head. "We got separated a few weeks back."

"Well, that sucks. The Junction isn't tourist-friendly, if you know what I mean. A lot of crazy folk run these parts of the city. But good thing you ran into your buddy, Gino" - raising both hands, he used his thumbs to point at himself - "cause I know someone who might have seen your friends."

The pup's expression lit up. "Really?"

The city wolf smirked. "Would you like to meet the guy?"

"Yeah, that would be grea - Argh!" I grabbed Toboe by his collar and dragged him backwards towards two dumpsters against a building. When we were far away from earshot, I released my hold on him. He turned around and stared at me, wide-eyed.

"What do you think your doing?" I whispered angrily. "We can't trust him. We don't even know him."

He blinked, confused. I could see in his face that he was trying to make sense of my sudden developed mistrust on our new acquaintance. "Why not?" He finally asked.

See? This was exactly what I meant - totally naïve about the real world.

"It's possible that . . . that," I let out a sigh of frustration. The city wolf had done nothing wrong, so I had trouble coming up with a convincing answer. I blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Lying! He could be lying to us."

Toboe looked over his shoulder at Gino. "How do you know?"

I made a face. Why did this have to be so difficult? "Call it a gut feeling, or instinct, or whatever you want." I squared my shoulders at him, looking straight into his eyes. "But I know what I'm feeling. He's been around humans for too long that he's becoming one of them. Working? Tell me if you know another wolf that works. And his scent, it's . . . different. Just take my word for it and believe me when I say he can't be trusted."

Toboe made his voice low enough for only my ears to hear. "But what other choice do we have? We don't know our way around here. It could take days to find my pack if we search for them on our own."

"I know, I know!" I groaned, closing my eyes in vexation.

"We really need the help, Amber."

"Is there a problem?"

We both looked at Gino. He wore a grin that made me sick to the stomach.

"No, there's no problem." Toboe said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Follow me." The city wolf clapped his hands together, and turned around on the balls of his feet. "'Over the bridge and through the woods to grandmother's house we go.'" He sang aloud as he walked into the dim alley.

Where Toboe followed immediately, I stayed behind, hesitant as always. Trust held an important meaning to me, a value I didn't take likely. Earning someone's trust was extremely difficult for me. I simply trusted Toboe because he had obtained it from the very beginning. He healed my wounds willingly when he could have left me to die. I will never forget it. But this shifty-looking character Toboe was currently walking behind, I cannot let my guard down around him. He lived with humans for ten years, more than enough time to make me think he had become like them - dangerous, deceiving creatures. I was convinced I could never bring myself to trust Gino. And I had no will to do so. For now, I kept my mouth closed, and followed the stranger while praying I was wrong about everything.

The city grew quite as it got darker. The lights here were bright enough to hide the stars forever. A chilly breeze made me cross my arms across my chest. This was stupid. I glared pointedly at the back of Gino's head. We have been walking for what felt like an hour. The thought of him lying to us returned to my thoughts in an instant.

"I have a question." Toboe asked earnestly.

"Oh, yeah?" He waved his hand to continue. "Let's hear it."

"Do you know why it smells like ashes and sulfur here?"

He laughed. "After living in this city for a few years it doesn't take long till you hear some of its stories. I was told back in the 1950's The Junction used to be a popular location for mining bituminous coal. At the time, this city wasn't so big like it is now, but the coal changed that. The humans would bake the stuff in a hot furnace, converting coal into coke. And that's what you smell."

"Coke?" Toboe asked questionably.

Gino said, "The coke is used on iron ore to make steel, giving it the strength and flexibility for producing buildings, and automobiles."

"You know a lot about coal." I pressed.

Though I couldn't see his face, I heard the smirk in his scratchy voice. "That's because I mine for it. See that mountain over there?" He pointed at something behind me. I turned around. At a distance, I saw the peek of a mountain just barely visible over a run-down building. "The coal is extracted from that mountain. I deep mine for it, you see, where it's very dark and very cold. It's not a surprise to know there's only a few minors this time around. The humans who work there have been in the mining industry for more than sixty years, and they were the ones who told me about a freak accident that went down twenty years ago."

"What happened?" Asked Toboe.

"One of the miners hit water - and shit - tons, and tons of water gushed out like you wouldn't believe, turning the tunnels into an aquarium. Everyone down there drowned, about twenty minors, if I remember correctly. By the next day the incident was all over the Time papers. Since then no one wants to be a minor anymore. Guess they're too scared to take the risk. When I first arrived in the city, minors were in high demand so I took the job. Hell, I could swim. No problem."

Toboe let his head hang forward. "So many humans died . . ."

"That's life, kiddo." Gino shrugged carelessly. "Some will die, some will live. There's nothing you can do about it."

I was quickly reminded of Lydia - the dark blood pouring from the hole in her face, her hollow eyes staring up at me. I shook the thought from my mind.

"Any more questions?" Invited Gino, a bit smug.

"What about the sulfur?" Reminded Toboe.

Gino sniffed the air. "I don't smell any sulfur. Probably got used to the smell after living here for so long."

Toboe looked pensive.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

He must have detected the irritation in my voice because he laughed out loud. "Of course I do. My friend lives in those apartments up ahead."

Gino pointed at some shabby apartments that I've been staring at for the past five minutes. A couple of windows were boarded up on the west side of the building. It didn't look welcoming. It looked more like a death sentence.

"This way." Gino walked up to the door, opened it, and stepped inside.

Toboe and I fell behind.

"You still think he's helping us?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

He slowly nodded his head. "It's . . . just a building. What's the worst that could happen?"

I stared at him for a moment. "We die."

"Don't say that!" Snapped Toboe. "It's not funny,"

"Just for the record, if we do die tonight, I blame you." Not meeting his gaze, I approached the same door Gino went through and opened it.

Once I entered the building, in a small room that smelled like liquor and cigarettes, I spotted Gino by the east wall. His back was facing me, and he was talking to a human in a full-length trench coat with long dirty blond hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. Their voices were too soft - I couldn't make out their conversation. I saw Gino nod his head, taking an active interest in what the human was telling him by leaning forward a little. My brows furrowed in concentration as I read the human's lips.

We're running low . . . Need more . . .

"Whatcha doing?" I was so wrapped up in the conversation that Toboe's voice made me jump. I whirled around and found him behind me. "Is everything alright?" He asked, conking his head to one side.

I looked back over my shoulder. Gino and the human were staring directly at me. Did they know I was listening to their conversation?

"Amber! Toboe!" Exclaimed Gino, as if we'd been friends our whole lives and had just seen each other after years of separation. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my good buddy, Felix."

Felix forced a haughty smirk to his stubbly face. "I hear ya'll are looking for some stray dogs."

"Wolves." I corrected. "Have you seen any?"

"Wolves? Now don't be stupid missy." Felix had a heavy accent. "You know damn well those mutts died out years ago."

My eyes narrowed. "Who ever said that is a fool."

He stared at me for a long second before his face broke into a knowingly smile. "Oh, I get it now," Raising his arm, he pointed at me with a dirty fingernail. "You're one of 'em crazy believers, right? Yeah, I've seen you folk on the tele, preaching on about wolves living among us and all that bull."

Toboe and I exchanged a confused glance.

"Are ya'll smok'n that herb?" He laughed. "Best share some."

"But wolves do exist." Toboe said but Felix was already shaking his head.

"I've never seen any or know anyone who has." Felix said. "And I know a lot of people. If one happened to pass through here, it wouldn't be long till the news got to my ears."

"Yo, bro!" Gino patted Felix twice on the back, seemingly in order to lighten the mood, and to calm the tension that had grown between us. "Its obvious they're confusing wolves with dogs. They're not from around here. Isn't that right guys?"

I didn't say anything, so Toboe spoke up for the both of us. "Er . . . right."

Gino nod his head in approval, smiling. "Now about those dogs, Felix. Do you know if any are running loose around here?"

"Pap's saw some dogs a night ago - bout three, I reckon. They were heading to the mountains."

"It might be them!" Toboe said happily.

Good! I could finally breathe easily now knowing we had a definite direction to follow. But the moment was ruined when Gino volunteered to show us a shortcut in the morning. According to him, it would take us straight to the city limits of Junction City and to the mountains. I didn't approve of his extended stay with us. However, I did approve of the quick exit. His kindness had not ended just yet. He suggested we should spend the night at his apartment, which, surprisingly, was located two floors above our heads. Felix excused himself, saying something about getting back to work and left the building in a rush. Toboe and I followed the city wolf upstairs to his apartment room.

When he turned the key in the lock and tugged the door open, I wished I never agreed to the idea. The white paint on the walls were chipped and water-stained, and the room had a strange odor; like mold, and something else.

"It's not much," he cracked open one of the two windows in the room, and propped a wooden board underneath it to keep the window from falling down, "but it's home."

"Thanks for letting us stay." Since there were no chairs, or any kind of furniture for that matter, Toboe sat comfortably on the floor. "You've been very kind to us."

Gino waved a dismissive hand at Toboe. "Don't mention it, kid. I wanted to help you guys. It's the least I can do considering I once knew how it felt to be new in a city. It's different, scary even."

"Were you scared?" Toboe asked innocently.

He laughed. "Actually, yeah. But back then the city wasn't as nearly as dangerous as it is today."

I stared out the closed window. I lifted my hand, and with my index finger, I traced around a faint star above the bright city lights - the only visible star.

"What made you come to the city in the first place, Gino?" I found him leaning against the wall. He was staring at the floor, but not really looking at it. "Did you come with a pack of your own?" I threw that one in for my benefit.

He didn't say anything for a long while. Then he pushed himself from the wall. "I just got super thirsty all of a sudden. Want some water? It's cold."

Toboe smiled. "Sure."

"I'll be back." I watched him disappear into the next room.

"Hey, he didn't ask if you wanted water." Realized Toboe. "I'll go tell him for you."

"No." I said before Toboe could stand up. "I could care less about water right now." I heard something pop from inside the other room, and then the sound of liquid filling up containers.

He leaned back on his forearms with a sigh. "You should drink something. Who knows the next time we'll see water."

I pretended not to have heard him as I focused my eyes into the other room. It was strange how the city wolf didn't turn on the lights.

Gino walked back with three bowls of water. "Here we go. Two bowls of fresh cold tap water. No more drinking out of the gutter. This city provides all the clean water my little heart desires. Drink up, guys." He handed one to each of us, and returned to the same spot by the wall. He quaffed down the water in three gulps.

I decided to repeat myself. "Where's your pack, Gino?"

Another moment of silence dragged by.

"Dead." He said in a low voice, almost ashamed.

"All of them?" I asked.

He sighed heavily, and set his empty bowl on the windowsill before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Yeah, all of them. There were fifty of us, and I'm all that's left. An army of human soldiers easily killed them off one by one, like swatting flies. The only reason why I'm still alive is because I walked out on the pack a day before. You see, we were on our way to a place called Paradise,"

Toboe chocked up his water. "That's where we're heading!" He managed to say between wheezes and coughs.

"Bad idea, kid." Gino said, which caught me by surprise. I thought Paradise was supposed to be a good thing. "Paradise is a waste of time. Because of Paradise, my pack is dead. If I hadn't realized it sooner, realize that it was some hoax, I would have died along with my pack."

"You can't blame Paradise for what happened to your pack." Toboe mumbled. "I believe Paradise is-"

"Don't!" Interrupted Gino, pointing at the pup with a dirty finger. He emphasized each word carefully, "Don't you dare say Paradise is real." Toboe said nothing, fear stricken. "For five years we did nothing but look for Paradise. It was a stupid dream to chase. Those who spend their lives searching for Paradise end up dead. And you will too if you don't put a stop to your pointless journey."

"You're wrong." I said in a strong voice.

"What did you say?" He growled at me.

"Seeing is not always believing. Sometimes it's the other way around." I told him.

"Then you're just as stupid, and crazy as they were."

He stormed away. He went into another room and slammed the door closed.

I hated this place. Feeling confined, I quickly yanked the window up and I stuck my head out. My anxiety vanished almost immediately.

"But it does exist." Mumbled Toboe under his breathe.

"Good to know you're not listening to that creep." I said from outside the window, enjoying the cool night breeze against my face.

"No, you don't get it. Paradise really does exist. My friend has been there."

I looked at him over my shoulder. "Really?"

He nodded his head. "He follows the scent of Lunar Flowers. They grow in Paradise and that's how he knows where to go."

"How does a Lunar Flower smell?" I asked.

"I dunno." He squeezed his eyes tightly together as if in pain. "But my friend always smiles when he smells them. I think they make him happy."

I bowed my head, considering that for a moment. I'd like that, very much.

Toboe placed a hand over his forehead. "Amber, I don't feel so-"

And then he collapsed on the floor.

"Toboe!" I shrieked, alarmed. I let the bowl fall from my hands and I rushed to him. But I was too late. He was already unconscious. But how? It was then I saw the bowl Gino gave him. Several things ran through my mind at that moment, but only one made certain of everything: the water had been drugged.

I felt a presence behind me. Abruptly, I twisted around and my heart skipped a beat when I found Gino standing over me. His eyes were not friendly. Instead they carried an empty dullness that made the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end. I uttered an oath under my breath before he swung the bat at my head.


	6. Chapter Six

**6. EYES WIDE OPEN**

_"__Die on a hilltop. Eyeing the crows, waiting for your lids to close. But you want to watch as they peck your flesh. Ironic that they go for the eyes first." __-Eddie Vedder_

* * *

"SHIT!"

"Leave it. We still have this mutt."

"But the boss is expecting two dogs,"

"We'll come back for it later. We're late as it is!"

A child cried, and I woke with a start. All I could see was darkness around me. I kicked and screamed until something ripped. An intense yellow light shined over my face, blinding me. I squinted my eyes and faintly realized the bright light emitted from a small hole above my head. And then it hit me: I had been stuffed into a sack. Using my narrow muzzle, I jabbed through the coarse canvas opening and forced the tear wider and wider until my whole body was able to squeeze out. My heart beat thumped hard inside my chest as I searched my surroundings. By the look of things, I was still in Junction City.

_Where's Toboe?_

A little family of three stood at the end of the alley. The girl, just waist high on her mother, hugged her mother's leg. The father called out warnings to someone that I couldn't see, while the mother implored him to stop. It seemed like something startled the family.

"What if they're carrying weapons in that bag?" The mother sounded worried.

"Those idiots pushed you. I'm going after them." I heard the father say.

As it dawned on me - I plunged into a sprint. The girl stared into the alley at the same time my body flickered from a wolf to a human. She screamed. Her father stared at me in surprise as I leaped over his head. The moment I landed, I took off into a sprint. That was when I ran into the wall of humans.

Still shaking with adrenaline, I pushed furiously between the closely pressed bodies. I heard exclamations of irritation as I battled my way through the crowd, fighting the hands and elbows that pushed me back. The faces were a blur of surprise and anger as I passed by them, but I knew I had to keep moving. If I stopped running, if I gave up right now, Toboe would die. He was depending on me to save him.

I couldn't tell where I was heading - whether I was going in the right direction or not - when all I saw were faces. Panic settled in, and I started to scream.

"Toboe!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, knowing it was useless. The crowd was too loud for my breathless voice to be heard. But I couldn't stop screaming.

The throng jostled around me, spinning me in every direction. All seemed hopeless until I found a bubble of space in the crowd ahead, and through that space two humans were running in the opposite direction. They tossed a familiar large sack into the back of a battered old pickup truck. I pushed urgently toward them, screaming Toboe's name. I didn't pause when I made it out. I shoved a heavy woman with groceries out of my way, and chased after the truck that had started down the street.

I felt so slow, like running through sand - I couldn't get enough support from the pavement. The truck got further and further with each step I took, and I found it difficult to keep pace. It continued to slip away, and when it disappeared around a corner, I feared I had lost it for good. Over the shouting and demanding horns honking, very quickly, in the part of my mind that wasn't engaging in panic, I thought about how all of this was my fault. Have you ever walked into a situation where you know exactly what's going to happen? But you go into it anyway . . . and when what you're afraid of happens, you kick yourself because you should have known better. That's how I felt. Now Toboe was going to pay for my stupid mistake.

I tried to see through my tears as I rushed towards the corner where the truck made an abrupt turn. I bored myself between two people. They shouted behind me, but apologizing was far from my mind. When I finally reached the corner, it was to my surprise that the same odd feeling from before had returned.

"No, not now." I sobbed.

When a sharp pain burst through my forehead, I doubled over with hands on either side of my head. It felt like something was violently tugging at my brain. Then the images began to flash before my eyes - any other thoughts had been lost. My mind was so absorbed in the alien message that the rest of my body froze still. Everything was so vivid, and loud - blaring in my ears . . .

_My body turned around._ _As bright as the blood pumping rapidly through my veins is the color I see rushing in my direction. It's fast, flying on the road - twirling, and spinning chaotically. There's no stopping it!_

I blinked, and just like that I returned to the present. The vision ceased playing. Before I could figure out what just happened, the sound of a woman screaming made me turn around. A red car was skidding, tires locked and screeching against the brakes. It was coming toward me, and fast. I didn't have time to close my eyes.


	7. Chapter Seven

**7. CHEATING DEATH**

_"Don't try to find_. _Words now, you fall_. _Then go, reach out_. _The choice is yours to find." -Ernest Greene_

* * *

THEN SOMETHING KNOCKED INTO ME, BUT NOT IN THE DIRECTION I WAS EXPECTING.

It lifted me off my feet and threw me like a rag doll over the road to where I landed sharply on my injured shoulder. I felt something solid and heavy pinning me to the ground. The car quickly slid a foot away from my legs, blowing the hair out of my face. I clenched my teeth together when I heard the shattering sound of metal folding violently. For one long second it was silent, and then the screaming began.

There was a flurry of activity around me. I could hear more than one person shouting to call the ambulance. But more clearly than all the shouting, I heard a voice next to my ear.

"Are you all right?"

My eyes darted to the side, and they came to a sudden stop on my saviors face. I could not find myself to look away. There was something in his eyes - blue, the color of a clear sky - that looked so familiar to me, as if I've seen those icy blues before. But where? It was then I realized I hadn't given him an answer yet.

"I'm fine." I said, and tried to sit up. But he was holding me down against the pavement. I looked back at him, confused.

"You're bleeding from your arm." He told me.

I suddenly became aware of the burning pain on my shoulder, the one I thought healed. My hand automatically reached up to touch the area and found the wound had split open.

"Oh!" I said, surprised.

I turned to sit up, and this time he let me, releasing his hold on my waist. He took a stand, and I did as well. This male was no human. But unlike Lydia and Toboe, this one's presence generated a different wave of character. Never had I felt so on edge before in front of another wolf. He was untamed, an indomitable spirit. An Alpha.

And then he blinked, pulling me from my small reverie. Was I staring? I wonder if he saw that.

I didn't get a chance to ponder over it because he looked back over his shoulder as if someone had called out to him. I looked too. Two guys - wolves, really - ran out of the shouting crowd, and were heading in our direction on the other side of the road. That was when I saw the car.

Its front end was crumbled from the force of impact, metal thrust back inside the car. Both the steering wheel and the dashboard compacted into one mangled mess. The passenger door was savagely torn from its hinges, and the front two tires were missing, possibly sent rolling down the street. The front windshield was completely broken, and several broken pieces of glass were scattered on the road; like tiny diamonds. The driver was confined in the twisted metal - face pressed into an airbag - still strapped firmly into the drivers seat. I didn't need to be told that he was dead.

"That was freaking cool!" Exclaimed the first wolf. In this form, he was wearing an oversized yellow sweater. Both hands were on his head and, surprisingly, he looked amused. "I did not see that coming."

A grey wolf in human form pushed himself in front, standing face to face with the one who came to my rescue. "Why the hell would you risk throwing yourself in front of a car, Kiba? And to save her worthless life?" The wolf pointed an accusing finger at me.

"Instinct." Was all he said, like it was the most practical thing in the world.

The grey wolf did not agree with the response. A low growl vibrated from his throat. "One of these days your instinct will get you killed." His angry eyes found me behind his comrade, and a frightening scowl took over his face. "Ever heard about looking twice before crossing, idiot,"

I suddenly remembered why I was standing in the middle of a street in the first place. One face flashed across my mind. "Toboe,"

But before I could break into a sprint, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly. Kiba held on with a vice grip.

"What are you doing?" I asked, infuriated. "Let go of me."

He ignored me and answered with a question of his own. "You know Toboe? Where is he?"

Did I say that out loud? I struggled to get free. Despite his calm features, I could feel his hand getting tighter around my arm. "I don't know." I admitted. "He was taken from me."

"Who took him?" Demanded the bad-tempered wolf with fury in his golden eyes.

It occurred to me then these wolves could be working for Gino. That bastard. I won't make the same mistake twice.

"Tell me, dammit!" The grey wolf had grown frustrated with my silence.

There was no time to think over my next move. I bit into Kiba's hand, hard. I heard him gasp in pain and shock, and then the blood gushed over my tongue. What happened next was not something I expected. The thick metallic taste of his blood sent my body on fire. I could hear my pulse picking up, accelerating. He struggled, but for only a second, and I knew he was feeling the exact same thing. I looked up into his wide brilliant blue eyes, and he back at me.

It all happened very quickly then.

I was in my skin but not in my skin. The three wolves had vanished when the city started shaking, convulsing wildly. The buildings, the people, and the world blend together into a huge mess. I've never been so scared in all my life. I quickly covered my eyes from the frightening sight swirling around me.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I shouted to somebody, anybody.

After what felt like two hours, I slowly let my hands fall from my face, and found myself inside a dark church. But I wasn't alone.

A chant echoed from every direction in the large, oblong hall. I looked up the long aisle of empty pews, and there, standing on top a flight of marble steps - under a semicircular apse - were five creatures standing at six or seven feet tall. They were dressed in full-length black mantle cloaks with hoods covering their faces. They sang in a dead language I couldn't understand. I forced my limbs to move, trying to make as little noise as possible. These slender giants carried a different scent unknown to me - not human, not animal.

After climbing a couple of steps, I was now able to see something that I hadn't before. My eyes open wide with shock and my hands flew to my mouth. _Oh, no._ Before the giants feet laid wolves . . . hundreds . . . thousands. All of their heads were missing. I stumbled back, falling to my knees as the stomach curling stench of decay, rotten meat, old blood, and death hit me all at once. Tuning away, I retched whatever was in my stomach. _Why is this happening to me?_

My head spun violently. With shaky knees, I lifted my now heavy body and walked up the rest of the steps. Beneath the carcasses were several thin grooves built in the floor with blood flowing inside - wolf blood. They traveled across the floor, disappearing behind the altar. As I walked pass the giants, there was a bone clicking sound when they turned their heads. I could hear them whispering to each other behind my back.

The several grooves had merged together into one huge channel up ahead, and I reluctantly followed the running blood with tiny steps. I didn't want to know where they led. Something was forcing my legs to move. I held my breath when the blood emptied inside a built-in pool.

To my surprise, there was a man.

He stood in the center of the pool, naked and waist deep in black blood. He lifted his head, and behind his black bangs stared eyes as red as the blood swimming around him. His eyes were shining in the dark . . . boring into my head . . . reaching deep inside for something precious and beautiful.

And that's when I began to scream.

* * *

**A/N: **Awesome, more reviews! Thank you guys! If there's anything else on your minds, feel free to post it. Anyway, sorry for the cliffhangers. You must hate me for that. Growing up, I always loved reading stories that leave the chapter on a thrilling note. So I incorporate the same thing into my stories just to keep things interesting. Hope you guys can deal.

The plot to MoonRise has been made out, a series of catastrophic events will unfold, and things will start making sense for Amber, and to you my faithful readers. Please stick around to see what will happen next.


	8. Chapter Eight

**8. THE PACK**

"The wolf, which hunts in a pack, has a greater chance of survival than the lion, which hunts alone." -Christian Lange

* * *

DRIP . . . DRIP . . . DRIP . . .

The sound of water falling reeled me back to consciousness. My eyes flew open. When I found myself staring at darkness, the first thought that came to mind was I'm in the sack again. My hands shot up to rip through rough canvas, but the only thing they grabbed at was air. Then I must be inside a room, I thought. The dark hugged around me thickly. I allowed my eyes to adjust. When they finally did, I saw the ceiling was high enough to be in black shadow. The floor had its rotting carpeting torn back to show the splintered floorboards beneath. There was a line of windows to my left that looked greasy - the drawn heavy drapes dingy and unwashed. One of the windows was broken, allowing some light to enter inside the room that smelt of dust and age.

A sudden flash of lightening casted eerie shadows on the walls with falling wallpaper. Thunder mumbled over my head. I decided it was time to get up. I hurled myself upright, and wished I hadn't. Dizziness confused my senses, followed by a rocking wave of nausea, and I let my body fall back down. A cloud of dust flew up from the carpet.

"Where am I?" I thought out loud, begging for my stomach to settle down - it refused to comply.

A voice coming from somewhere in the dark shattered the quiet and made me jump.

"In a shit hole."

I turned my head to the side to see who had spoken, and across the creaky floors, I saw a dark figure walking toward me.

"You . . ." I whispered with recognition when he walked into the light that steamed in through the broken window. It was one of the wolves that I met on the street. The metal on his collar glimmer brightly with each step. Tiny motes of dust swirled in the warm air around him. His closeness made me crawl backward. I began to growl, warning the wolf to back off.

The husky wolf gave me a smile that reached his brown eyes. "It's okay, I won't hurt you." The total lack of fear he presented in his gaze surprised me. My low guttural sounds ceased. It almost seemed like he was . . . glad to see me. "Here," He offered me a hand. "I'll help you up."

Why was he being so nice to me? That's when I remembered Gino. He pretended to befriend Toboe and me just so he could betray us. My eyes narrowed. Despite the wolf's friendly gesture, instead of taking his hand, I slapped it away from my face.

"Ow!" He gasped, cradling his hand in the other. "What was that for?"

I stared dangerously into his confused brown eyes, wanting him to see just how furious I was with him. "Get away from me." I said in a low grating voice. Without breaking eye contact, I forced myself up. Bad decision, ever! The world took an abrupt turn. But for only a moment. Even though I staggered a bit, never once did I bring my guard down.

"Are you working for Gino?" I asked.

Confusion rearranged his gentle features. "Gino who?" He asked.

"Don't play dumb with me." I barked. "Give me an answer!"

He raised both hands up, palms facing outward. "Chill out, lady! I have no idea who you're talking about."

I tried to snap at one of his hands when he made a move toward me.

"Don't come any closer." I warned. "I will rip your arms off."

The wolf opened his mouth to speak, but a different, much deeper voice answered in his place.

"Fool,"

I whirled around.

At that moment lighting flickered, illuminating the room for just enough time to see the other two wolves. There was one standing about twenty feet away, garbed in all black. He stared right at me with piercing, gold eyes. Another figure stood quietly in the farthest corner. His head was turned, looking in the other direction.

"Is that any way to repay us after saving your ass," The grey wolf regarded me with revulsion. "If it weren't for us, you'd be locked up in a cage by now as a humans lab rat."

My lips pulled back to reveal long fangs. "Screw you, mutt!"

If I had blinked, I would have missed everything. The grey wolf closed the gap between us with a single leap. Before I could even think about putting my arms up to protect myself, he grabbed my shoulder - the injured one. My scream sounded loud in the large, empty room. With amazing strength, he picked me up roughly and threw me across the room. My back hit the wall, knocking the air out of my lungs. Pieces of drywall rain over my head, covering my whole body in a chalky dust.

He approached my crumbled form on the floor, gold eyes glowing with fury. "You ungrateful little-"

"Tsume!" The husky wolf interfered by stepping in between us. "You do not hit a female."

But Tsume, the grey wolf with a short temper fuse, shoved him out of his way. "Move it, Hige."

I shook off the dust and quickly got to my feet. Pain blossom from my shoulder. There was no doubt the bullet wound had reopened. As the grey wolf advanced with every intention to tear me a new breathing hole, somewhere deep inside me I knew I didn't stand a chance. Despite my disadvantages, I prepared to attack with everything I was worth.

"Stop, Tsume."

He ignored the command.

A dark figure walked out of the shadows. It was the white wolf, Kiba. "She's the only one who can help us find Toboe."

And just like that the grey wolf stopped dead in his tracks. He scoffed, folding his arms over his scarred chest. "She needed to be put in her place."

"Save your strength." Under dark, unkempt hair Kiba stared at me. Those dominant silver blue eyes clashed with my furious golden ones. I stubbornly refused to be the first to look away. After a good long second of neither of us exchanging words, he finally broke the silence. "Back on the streets, you said the name Toboe. You know him, right?"

"Yes." I hesitated. "He saved my life. I owe the pup."

"What?" Hige looked at me with disbelief. "He actually saved your life?"

"She's lying." Tsume said harshly. "The runt can hardly fend for himself let alone save someone else's life."

I glowered at the grey wolf. "You talk about Toboe like you know him."

"That's because we do." The alpha wolf refrained from showing any emotion. "We're Toboe's pack."

You have got to be kidding me. "Prove you're his pack."

Hige sighed before saying, "We were in the forest a few days back until we lost Toboe-"

My eyes open wide with blank surprise.

"When you got ambushed by Nobles." I finished for him, suddenly regretting not trusting them earlier. Way to go, Amber. I turned away, feeling incredibly stupid.

They were equally as surprised. "How do you know?" Asked Hige.

"Toboe told me all about it." I said. "We came to the city hoping to find you guys. But then we ran into trouble." The anger from before returned, except twice as stronger. I told them everything. How Toboe and I arrived in the city, our purpose for being here, and how we met that backstabbing wolf, Gino. "He said he would help us." I explained. "But he lied. He knocked us both out just before handing us over to the humans."

"And why weren't you taken?"

I didn't appreciate how Tsume was already suspecting that I had something to do with Toboe's disappearance. "They left me behind because they were in a rush. I tried going after them, but guess who interfered," I glared at them in the gloom, making my point clear.

Hige ruffled his already messy hair. "Oh, I get it. The reason you've been giving us a hard time is because you thought we were working for Gino. It all makes sense now." He smiled, proud of himself for coming up with it first.

"I'm not buying it," Tsume gave me a wary look. "She could be luring us into a trap. For all we know, she might be part of Toboe's kidnapping."

An aggressive growl escaped my mouth. Tsume counteracted with a vicious growl of his own.

"We'll just have to take our chances." Kiba said with a stern stare. He then turned to me, his expression never faltered. "Take us to where you last saw Toboe. We will start looking for him there. Now, let's go. We're wasting time." He was already walking away.

"For your sake, you better pray Toboe is alive." Tsume warned behind me. He followed Kiba and Hige, throwing me a foul look as he passed.

That really stung.

I closed my eyes and gave myself that moment to breathe, to find sensibility, to prepare myself for impossible things that waited ahead. My eyes opened, determined and fearless. Pushing the grey wolf's comment toward the far depths of my mind, I ran to catch up with the others.


	9. Chapter Nine

**9. BURN**

"Quick to judge, quick to anger. Slow to understand. Ignorance and prejudice. And fear walk hand in hand." -Rush

* * *

THERE WAS NO MOON TO BRIGHTEN THE NIGHT SKY AS I LED THE WOLVES DEEP INTO THE DISTRICTS OF JUNCTION CITY.

Surprisingly the city was alive at this late hour. Strange, obscure noises blasted from moving vehicles, momentarily silencing any other sound when they streaked by. Thick black fumes polluted the air and made breathing difficult. Luckily for me, the crowd of tall buildings made traveling by rooftop easier than through its human invested streets. The alpha wolf who rescued me from perpetual roadkill wanted to stay hidden in the shadows. Of course, I had no problem with this decision. Avoiding humans calmed my nerves. However, as I jumped from rooftop to rooftop, about three things concerned me.

One, there was no plausible explanation to convey how I started receiving strange visions. It's been twice they manifested itself into my head, disturbing my every thought and action. Until recently I noticed the birth of these visions occurred around the same time I met Toboe. Could the pup have something to do with them? Immediately my mind responded with a resounding negative. _Impossible!_ But what then?

Two, in what state of mind drove Gino to betray his own kind? Nobles slaughtered his entire pack without remorse. How could he live with humans and not feel uncomfortable? Take me for example, I absolutely and irrevocably despise them.

And finally three, if Toboe was doing okay. I prayed the humans had not harmed him.

Among all the unanswered questions rambling inside my head, there was one thing I was sure of . . . I wasn't leaving this city without the pup.

The rain settled to a light drizzle. I could feel the cool heavy wetness weigh me down as I ran. Ahead I saw the end of the building coming up, and I set my teeth before throwing myself into the air. My stomach turned a summersault as I hurtled over the dark alley. When I landed on the other side, I bent my knees so that my thighs could absorb the shock and then plunged forward into a sprint. I heard the others land somewhere close behind. They followed with equal haste; which surprised me. I always thought of myself as the fastest of my kind. Countless times I left Lydia in the dust. And when I met Toboe, he never measured up to my level. But all of that changed when these homeless wolves came into my life. It bothered me when Tsume managed to match my pace, running alongside me. I purposely picked up the speed a notch to avoid seeing his annoying face. That was when Kiba appeared on my left. I gritted my teeth.

"Yo, Amber! Hope you know where you're going." Hige said somewhere behind me. Before setting off in search of the pup, Hige and I formally introduced ourselves. He also presented the names of his comrades even though I secretly knew already. He then added, "Wouldn't it be hard looking for that apartment on top of buildings?"

Although Junction City's unnatural environment confused my senses, I was confident in the direction I was heading. It might be because of the mountains. I recalled Gino pointing them out. The exact position of the mountain peeking over his apartment complex was still fresh in my memory. I measured the distance of the mountains in my head, so I knew exactly how to get to the apartment. And at the moment they looked far away. Just a little more to go.

"We'll get there soon enough." I promised, staring straight ahead.

Tsume, who smelt like timber and leaf mould, huffed suddenly. I took that as offensive, and held back every ounce of myself to not shove the grey wolf over the edge of the building. Anyway, Hige did not say anything to my response. Half of me wondered if he believed me, while the other part could care less. Whether he did or didn't, he was not going to confirm my thoughts because he directed his concerns to somebody else.

"What's the plan when we get there anyway, Kiba?" Hige asked. "I don't suppose Toboe's kidnappers left us a trail of breadcrumbs to follow."

"We sniff out the place." Replied Kiba. "Maybe there's a scent that will lead us straight to Toboe."

"Better be right about that," Tsume said.

There was no sign of Gino's apartment, and I started to doubt myself after twenty long minutes of relying on pure memory. But that was when I did see it! On the other side of a tall building was the apartment complex. Thank goodness. I never thought I would be happy to see that ugly place. Kiba was the first to step inside the shabby building, and the rest of us filed into the room. The lobby was dimly lit and empty, with the exception of a rat scampering across the floor and the sound of a baby crying somewhere in the building. I wasted no time as I quickly led the group up to the second floor - Gino's room.

When we approached the correct door, I jiggled the knob.

"Dammit." I banged the door once out of frustration. "It's locked."

"Out of the way,"

I had just enough time to step aside when Tsume's foot flew inches from my face, kicking open the door. The force of the blow made the metal hinges break off, and the door slammed against the wall. Despite his handy-dandy door kicking in ability, I still thought he was a bigheaded fool.

Hige poked his head into the room, and wrinkled his nose. "What a dump. It smells worse in here than it does outside."

"That's not important." Kiba roughly pushed his way between Hige and Tsume. "Do something useful and start looking around."

We obeyed, going our own separate ways.

The husky wolf sauntered toward a dingy cardboard box lying in the center of the main room. He used the tip of his foot to flip it over. He was not surprised to find it bare inside. "There's not much to look for." Hige complained.

"I hate to say it, but porky is right." Came Tsume's voice from the hallway. He walked back into the main room. "The bedroom had nothing. Just a futon and some clothes on the floor."

"Then use your nose." Kiba argued with a hint of annoyance. "We aren't leaving this place empty handed."

Hige and Tsume exchanged a glance.

While I wandered the small furniture-less room, I stumbled upon the tin bowl Toboe used. When I picked it up, I noticed the inside was bone dry. He must have been thirsty. I felt a sharp pang of guilt in the pit of my stomach.

"This guy must be a freak to live with humans," Tsume sounded disgusted.

"You're one to talk." Hige said, mischief swimming in his brown eyes. "Didn't you have a band of mindless humans following you around once upon a time?"

A low growl arose from the grey wolf - obviously offended. "That doesn't mean I lived with them, you idiot!"

Hige dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "_Sure,_"

"Gino works with humans too."

The grey wolf paused for a moment to get his bearings. "What did you say now?" Tsume sounded annoyed. He always sounded annoyed.

"Gino works with humans." I repeated, still staring at the bowl in my hands. "In the mountains. As a coal miner. At least, that's what he told me."

"What would a wolf - who mines for coal - want with the runt?" Hige asked out loud.

At that moment, Kiba came back into the main room, seemingly in deep thought. His attention glued to me as if I should know the answer to that question. Ashamed, my eyes fell upon the bowl in my hands again when I had nothing to offer. Even so, I jogged my memory for something trivial because it was apparent nothing in this shabby apartment was going to help us find Toboe.

And then it came to me!

I remembered what Gino said to me and Toboe on the streets. _"Wolves are becoming extinct. So in order to survive we blend in with the humans - we work like a human, we live like a human."_

"A price," The words came out slowly, unsure. I turned to look at the three wolves. They fell silent and I could see on their faces they were contemplating the possibilities. Before anyone could share their thoughts, a voice with a heavy accent shattered the silence.

"Hey, ya'll aren't supposed to be hur."

Standing by the door was Felix. As soon as his green eyes found me among the group, the expression on his face quickly shifted from angry to surprised.

"You . . ." Whispered the human.

He swiftly turned, and took off down the hallway.

Kiba darted out of the room, followed by Tsume, Hige and myself. We chased the human through the graffitied hallway and down the stairs. When Felix reached the first floor, Kiba launched himself from the staircase and tackled him to the ground. A cry of surprise left the humans mouth. Kiba hauled the hefty human up with only one hand and threw him into Tsume's chest. The grey wolf placed Felix in a choke hold.

"I ain't done not'n, ya hear." Shouted the human. "Lemme go!"

However, his attempt failed to change my mind. I glared at the coward who's face was starting to turn a dark shade of red, and he glared back with equal loath.

"Is this the one who took Toboe," Tsume purposely applied pressure against Felix's neck, crushing his windpipe. The human coughed and choked.

"No," I said while never taking my eyes off Felix. "But we can use him to find Gino. Apparently, they're great buds."

Felix stiffened. "What ya what? Money?"

"Your friend took something that belongs to us." Kiba said. "Give us answers. Now."

"Or else what?" Dared Felix.

"Or else I'll snap your neck." Tsume threatened. He squeezed the human's neck to make his point clear. Felix swallowed a loud one.

Kiba's voice was cold and stern. "Where's Gino?"

Sweat beaded across the human's forehead, nervous eyes shifted between me and Kiba - Felix was carefully thinking over his next words. One slip up and he might loose his head. He inhaled through his nose and lifted his chin. "Gino ain't here no mo. I reckon he left the city by now."

"He reeks of lies," Hige affirmed. "I can smell it all over him."

Felix struggled for air when the arm around his neck started to constrict. He tried calling for help but Tsume wouldn't allow it - forcing the human's lower jaw shut. And keeping it like that. After a good few minutes, Tsume relaxed his muscles. The human gasped for air like a fish on land.

"Don't make us ask you again." Barked the alpha wolf. "Where's Gino!"

"A'right, a'right!" Felix tried to catch his breath. "You'll find em' at the steel factory by the ole train station. Five blocks from hur, to the East. A build'n name P&E Steel House."

The grey wolf shoved the human aside, and he collided with the wall - face first. Felix cried out in pain, holding his nose as blood rapidly poured down his mouth, chin, neck.

"Bastard! You broke my nose!" Cursed Felix.

Kiba ignored the man's outburst. "Let's go."

We were already walking away when Felix's next words caught us by surprise.

"What ya'll want with the mutt anyhow? Those critters done not'n but brought us the disease."

Hige's eyes widen incredulously. "That's not true."

An imperious grin spread across his bloody, grime face. "Ya'll know not'n then . . . just a bunch of mutt-lovin-nancies get'n our business."

"And what exactly is your business," Tsume looked dangerously close to doing what he promised earlier.

"Burn'n every mutt that crawls into this beautiful city." Felix replied slowly, still wearing that annoying smile.

My heart began to beat hard inside my chest. Everything clicked! Gino, a wolf himself, never meant to help us. He wanted to burn Toboe and me alive from the very beginning. I thought about Toboe, and how frightened he must be right now.

Kiba stepped forward. His lips slowly pulled back to reveal a row of inhuman fangs. Seeing this wiped the grin off Felix's face.

* * *

It goes without saying Felix's life was not spared. Kiba did not reframe from holding back his rage, ripping through Felix's throat first so he could not scream for help. He left the pitiful man in a pile of mangled limbs and ragged flesh marinating in his own blood. Good riddance.

The four of us headed out into the streets with Kiba leading the way. It had stopped raining outside. By this time the streets were deserted, the markets and stores silent behind their nighttime doors of corrugated metal. No words were exchanged as we ran to the factory. Perhaps they feared the worst for Toboe, and saying it out loud might make it real. Some things are best left unsaid.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a question surfaced from the darkness. A not so pleasant one.

_Did Felix give us the right directions?_ Those words flared into clarity, followed by a horrible sinking feeling like my heart just collapsed into my stomach. _He might have lied just to get rid of us. _The very thought worried me to the point of nausea. Once again, I kept my mouth shut. There was no need to spread my anxiety.

The directions took us to a largely industrial neighborhood in the outskirts of Junction City. An old train station once used for transporting purposes stood between us and the line of factories looming in the dark distance. The ghostly somber-colored buildings sent a chill up my spine. Kiba and Tsume moved onward while I came to a sudden stop - thinking, worrying, fearing.

"We'll find Toboe." Assured Hige, interrupting my train of thought.

I found him standing not too far, wearing that friendly smile.

My eyes grew wide. _H__ow did he know?_

"You looked a bit scared there for a moment." Explained the silent observer as he scratched the tip of his nose. "The runt might be puny, but he can be tough sometimes."

_This wolf is very sharp on the_ eyes. I thought to myself, noting his keen ability to sense my behavior.

I turned away, slightly bothered. Although I did not say anything, I wanted so badly to believe in the husky wolf. I stepped off the platform and landed on the rocky tracks. Hige walked a few steps behind me as we crossed the field of train tracks. I stumbled on loose rails and wooden blocks along the way. Ahead, I noticed a dead raven on the ground. It's long wings bent unnaturally, and bones peeked out from underneath black feathers. Gnats buzzed around its milky eyes. Disgusted, I crept around the decaying bird. When I finally reached the other side of the tracks, I leaped on top of that platform and looked around. I spotted Tsume and Kiba about thirty feet away, so I ran to catch up with them. Once bustling factories were now left to rot in a sprawl of weeds, heaps of trash, crumbling brick and fetid water. The foundation here was overtaken by nature. Powerful manmade structures destroyed by mere vegetation.

After an hour of looking, we finally found the factory that Felix promised us. We walked past it twice, thinking it was another abandoned building, before Kiba saw the sign. It had been sand blasted to pale letters by the unrelenting desert winds.

"P&E Steel House." Read Kiba, pointing at the letters with his finger.

"Good." Tsume said. "At least that bastard kept his word."

_That's true._ But for the sake of my dignity, I would never agree with him out loud. As Kiba and Tsume argued about something beyond my comprehension, I observed the tall barrier standing between me and the factory. It was a twenty foot fence with a lovely set of barbed wires that looked sharp enough to split a hair.

"This is going to slow us down." I muttered under my breathe, and wandered off to find another entrance.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a sudden flash of light. There were five men patrolling alongside the fence. One caught sight of me, and sprinted with the rifle aimed directly at my head. In a flash of teeth and claws, he dropped limply before my feet.

Gunshots fired, voices shouted, and I covered my sensitive ears.

When I looked up, I saw Kiba running at me. My eyes widen as he jumped forward with his claws outstretched and his blood stained maw pulled back in a frightening snarl. I growled warningly, and crouched low to ready myself for the attack. Suddenly, Kiba passed over my head. There was an agonizing scream behind me. I spun around just as warm human blood splattered across my face. A human had snuck up behind me, his throat now torn open with his blood filling the ground. Kiba stood over the dead man. He looked at me over his shoulder, piercing blue eyes staring straight into mine.

_Those eyes . . ._

"We should move on." Like dangling from a string, Tsume's voice was like scissors, cutting me down. I hurled back to earth, disoriented and confused. The remaining four humans lay lifeless on the ground. Tsume wiped the fresh blood on his hands with the back of his pants. "More will come after hearing those gunshots."

"Hey, guys!" Hige called out a few feet away.

The urgency in his voice made us rush in his direction. The husky wolf somehow uncovered a hole in the fence. Without hesitation, the four of us jumped through the ragged metal opening and raced across the yard. This time staying in the shadows to avoid further human encounters. A broken window on the east side perimeter proved to be our only entrance into the factory. It led us to a large storage room packed with dusty wooden crates that piled high on top of each other.

"This place feels wrong," Hige said. "It smells like ashes and . . . and-"

Just then a shrill scream echoed on the other side of the walls. I scrambled back in surprise, eyes wild. There was something familiar about that scream. My pulse picked up. What is going on?

"Come on!" And Kiba began to sprint between the towers of crates, desperately trying to find a way out of here. A door came into view and he burst through it effortlessly.

What happened next would forever be imprinted in my mind.

I stared for a few seconds, and time seemed to slow. Chills raised the fine hairs on my arms, neck. A sensation of lightheadedness swept over me. I had to look away, pale faced and eyes wide with horror. It was the furnace room . . . filled with wolves. Some were injured, most were dead. All of them were being dragged away by humans to a huge furnace. A wolf too old to defend itself wiggled and whined in the arms of a human. They tossed my elderly kin into the flames of Hell. His cry lost in the blaze. Among scenes of the macabre and the grotesque, I noticed a familiar patch of auburn fur. It wasn't moving. My heart leaped inside my chest when human hands lifted the young wolf.

"TOBOE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and recklessly lunged out of the shadows.

Little did I know about the red dot hovering between my brows, or the rifleman hiding behind discarded equipment twenty yards in the corner. He gazed into his peephole, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry to leave things on a cliffhanger again! Bwahaha! :D

Thank you everyone for reviewing! It's nice waking up to find some reviews waiting for me in my inbox. Its kinda like receiving daily presents lol just reading them in the morning starts off my day with a grand smile. So please continue to offer your advise and opinions. I absolutely love hearing your thoughts on MoonRise, and whether or not you're enjoying it.

Anyway, pardon my short absence. Life caught up to me, as well as homework and assignment deadlines. Blaah! I will try to squeeze in another chapter next week. However, no promises. As far as I know, I might get busy again.

Have a wonderful week everyone!


	10. Chapter Ten

**10. SUNRISE**

* * *

_"Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure. Never forget your dreams. Your silent heart will guide you. Be silent now. It is the possibility of a dream that makes life interesting. You can choose between being a victim of destiny or an adventurer who is fighting for something important." -Paulo Coelho_

* * *

MY HACKLES STOOD ON END WHEN A BULLET RICOCHET FROM THE GROUND BETWEEN MY FOREPAWS WITH A DEAFENING SOUND.

The gunshot caught me by surprise that I hadn't realized I let my disguise down. I swiftly darted out of sight just as another bullet whizzed passed my tail.

"Dogs!" Someone cried.

Soon the entire room was filled with screams of pain, roars of fury, and loud gunfire. Shrouded in wolf form, Hige, Tsume and Kiba sliced through the humans with skilled performance. I could see the rage burning behind their eyes as they maliciously executed their victims one by one. Crimson blood sprayed into the air from the arteries the wolves tore open, and the humans collapsed on the ground, lifeless. Some of the smarter breed fled the furnace room after seeing they didn't stand a chance against feral canines. As I watched the frightened sheep escape, I moved to chase after them, to kill them for what they done to my kin, but I stopped myself. I had more important matters to take care of. Instead, my wild eyes searched for Toboe. He was laying at the same spot. Just when I was about to go to him, a human shouting caught my attention, and I turned. A bulky man twice my size was running toward me with an ax hefted over his head. My body dropped low at the same time he swung the heavy ax, exposing his side to my fangs. I easily brought him down, getting stained with his blood in the process.

I rushed over to Toboe on the floor, and gently nudged him with my snout. Panic settled in when he didn't stir immediately. _Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead._ A combination of relief and joy washed over me when he gradually opened his eyes a sliver. Toboe whimpered groggily, obviously fighting back the heavy dose of drugs coursing through his system.

"It's nice to see you again, Amber."

That familiar voice instinctively sent adrenalin pumping through my veins, and I snapped my head up. Much to my chagrin, I found Gino standing on stacked crates. My eyes narrowed into dangerous slits at the rifle dangling in his left hand. There was no doubt in my mind that he had been the one who shot at me earlier. My ears pressed flat against my skull, and a low growl vibrated from my throat like a distant thunder roll.

"And I see you brought some friends with you." He said, giving me a twisted grin.

"I can't believe you're doing this. Have you lost your mind?!" My ferocious bark echoed inside the large room.

But that didn't falter Gino's expression. He just stared back, smiling. "Me? Loose my mind?" Gino laughed a little too hard. "I'm simply doing what needs to be done."

"By helping these humans kill your own kind?" Tsume shouted incredulously, hands curled into fists by his side; holding himself back from lashing out at the city wolf. "You sick bastard."

Gino glanced at the grey wolf, the grin long gone from his face. "I had to help them. The mountains run dry with coal. How else will this city thrive without some sort of fuel?" He shook his head, as if there was nothing wrong with killing another race in order to improve the lives of others. "Besides . . . I'm doing these wolves a favor."

"All your doing is murder." Hige spat with revulsion.

Something cracked in Gino's black eyes then, and his true personality slowly leaked out into the surface. "They believed in illusions . . . of a place called Paradise. I was like them once . . . chasing a dream that would never come true. I was a fool to let such a ridiculous fairytale rule my life. Until one day, I snapped out of it." His fist came down on one of the crates, emphasizing his point. "Paradise doesn't exist. There's no such thing. I realized the world we live in now is all we're getting. Of course, I tried convincing my pack, but they wouldn't listen to me. Idiots . . . all of them. They attacked me . . . left me to die . . . I _hated_ them," a dark shadow fell upon his face, twisting it into something that could only be described as insanity. "So I got my revenge." Those dark eyes fell upon me. "I killed them,"

"You said humans killed your pack," I reminded, hesitant.

"I told those humans where to find a pack of rabid dogs." Gino threw his head back and let out a sadistic laugh. "Afterwards, I decided to live with the humans. Make a few money as a coal miner. Then the mountains stopped producing coal. Can you imagine all the issues this city went through? No power, no fuel, no cars, no steel to build skyscrapers. So, I started this business. Nobody cares about burning the bodies of diseased _dogs_. Not when they might be spreading the sickness. I consider myself a very generous creature. After all, I'm helping wolves find true Paradise . . . in death."

There was nothing I could say. He spoke so casually, like it was okay to kill wolves simply because they dreamed of Paradise. All I wanted was to rip off that deranged, double crossing bastard's face. I planned to do just that, until Kiba decided to say something at that moment.

"I feel sorry for you." He said to Gino. "You allowed yourself to become this monster. You may not believe in Paradise, you may try to burn every wolf who searches for it, but you will never get rid of our Faith. Because there's no doubt in my mind that we will find Paradise."

Suddenly, anger melted away the carefree expression on Gino's face. The hand around his rifle tightened.

"Then die." He shouted callously.

Gino aimed the barrel directly at Kiba, and fired. I held my breath when Kiba never moved. He took the shot, the bullet blowing off a chunk of shoulder flesh. Amazingly, Kiba stood without showing pain. He growled viciously.

"Tough guy, huh?" Gino narrowed his eyes. "We'll see about that!"

The two charged at one another head on. Kiba leaped onto the crates, and Gino raised his rifle. _Bang! _The bullet missed, exploding the crate behind Kiba. With the white wolf too close, Gino dropped his rifle to reach into his pocket. Kiba yelped when a knife bit into his side.

"Why is Gino fighting in his human state?" I wondered aloud.

"He is no longer wolf." Hige answered. "He has become human."

My eyes widen. "Is that possible?"

"When a wolf lives as a human, he forgets his origins and eventually becomes human." Tsume said. "I've seen it happen before. A long time ago."

I considered that for a moment, amazed. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. A scream tore me away from my own thoughts. Kiba hung from Gino's arm by his powerful jaws. Blood rolled over Kiba's muzzle, and he wrenched Gino's arm side-to-side. Gino desperately tried to pull the white wolf off, but ended up loosing his balance. The two fell from the tower of crates, and tumbled on the ground with Kiba still holding on tightly.

"I won't let you kill anymore wolves." Growled Kiba, fangs jabbed deep in crimson sleek skin.

There was nothing to protect himself from the white wolf since he lost his knife during the brawl. The fear on Gino's face was visible now. He wildly punched Kiba in the eye with his free hand, already feeling his limb being painfully stretched. But that did little to save him from what happened next. Gino fully screamed when I heard the sickening "pop" of his bone as it was savagely pulled from it's socket. And finally, a tear. Blood sprayed everywhere when Kiba completely dismembered Gino's arm from his body.

Gino screamed so hard, veins popped on his neck. The interior part of his shoulder was visible, exposing torn muscle strands and white cartilage. He attempted to cover the ragged opening with his other hand. His only hand. "You will pay for that!" Hollered Gino, rising from the bloodstained ground, and found a weapon on one of the corpses nearby. His black eyes looked crazy as he fired away at Kiba.

Kiba dodged the wild bullets until Gino used them all up. He tossed the empty weapon aside and made a run for it to a lever on the wall. He pulled the lever down with a sadistic grin. At that moment, the sound of rusted metal dragging warned me that something terrible was about to happen.

The large furnace door heaved upward, and a bath of molten hot fire spilled out.

"BURN!" Laughed Gino, blinded by his own revenge to notice he was putting himself in danger.

The room ignited as the molten fire spread out rapidly, eating everything in its path. Fire fell from the ceiling, burning easily through the wood that kept this factory intact. It was time to go. Tsume lifted the unconscious pup onto his shoulders, and the four of us raced to the storage room. I could still hear Gino laughing behind me as the flames roared higher, and smoke grew thicker.

"Hurry!" Shouted Kiba somewhere ahead in the black smoke. I couldn't see him or the other wolves. "To the broken window!"

Scared and exhausted, I avoided bumping into the tall crates as I tried to keep up with the others. The smoke prevented me from using my nose, so I had to rely on the sound of their retreating footfalls. I coughed from inhaling too much soot.

Finally, I saw the window, and immediately leaped through it without a moment of hesitation. Once outside in the cold brisk air, we ran from the burning factory. None of us stopped. We just kept on running. I looked at Toboe hanging behind Tsume's back with his tongue lolled out of his mouth. I had to admit, it was great seeing him again. Kiba led us away from Junction City into the desert. He followed the old train tracks that trailed off into the dark distance. Ahead, sat the looming mountains.

I turned to Hige who was running alongside me. "What's at the mountains?" I asked.

"Lunar flowers," he answered simply.

I furrowed my brow. He smiled.

"You'll find out soon enough." Was all the husky wolf said to me.

It seemed the sun would be rising any minute. Brilliant colors of oranges burned beyond the black mountains. Multiple soft sun rays stretched out across the sky, casting the night away.

As I watched the world unfold into a new day, I realized something. Today I experienced near death more than I thought was possible, I almost lost Toboe, and I witnessed wolves being grusomely slaughterd. Despite all of that, no matter what happens, life will always go on. It's strange to think the world continues to spin even though you sometimes wish it would freeze over for you. In a way, it's a good thing that doesn't happen. Holding on to the pain for too long ruins the chance of experiencing true happiness. As the saying goes, time heals all wounds. But only if you let it.

A few months ago, I never imagined leaving my little boathouse, wander into a city filled with humans, cheat death, and embark on an adventure with an odd pack of wolves. The sudden clarity of the whole thing inspired me to be more alive. Lydia would be so proud of me.

For the first time, in a long time, I actually smiled.

* * *

**A/N:** That was intense!

For those of you who reviewed, thanks a million! If I could, I would totally give each of you a scrumdiddlyumptious cupcake for your effort in sending me a piece of yo mind lol please let me know if i'm capturing the characters personalities correctly. Like I mentioned before, it's been years since I've seen Wolf's Rain, and I don't have time to watch online episodes - not with college assignments napping at my neck. So please feel free to bring it to my attention. I want this story to flow well.

Also, I'm super sorry for the cliffhangers. But I'm telling you guys, I really REALLY _REALYYY_ enjoy leaving off on a suspenseful note. You hate them, but you know you love them ;D


	11. Chapter Eleven

**11. THE DEVIL'S SANDBOX**

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"_Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith." -Margaret Shepard_

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PERSPIRATION STREAKED DOWN THE SIDE OF MY FACE.

The desert weather was unpleasantly warm and humid today. Unlike the forest, there were no thick, green foliage to block out the sun. Tall cactuses and dried up shrubs grew in abundance - hardly reliable for shade. The sky was pure blue with no clouds to break it's measureless space, making last nights storm feel like a dream. With the baking sun high above my head, and my skin sticky with sweat from the absence of a breeze, I was strangely unbothered by the desert's heat. It felt great being in the open wild again. Never before had the crunch of sand grains beneath my heels sound so satisfying. I inhaled a lung full of salty air. If there was a way to reestablish ones love for nature, it was being imprisoned in that horrible city. A glance over my shoulder revealed a barely visible black dot in the wavy hot distance, Junction City. The thrill of knowing I would never step foot in there again put me in a very uplifting mood. I was practically skipping with joy.

After running for two hours straight, the four of us settled into a fast walk when a breathless Hige started to fall behind with exhaustion. Tsume paced a few steps ahead of me, still carrying an unconscious Toboe over one shoulder. The pup's eyes rolled behind their lids, and he mumbled incomprehensible words; telltale signs that the sedatives were starting to loose effectiveness. Soon he would be able to wake up. To my far right, Hige treaded along the rusty train tracks that didn't seem like anyone used for many years. As usual, Kiba took front point, leading the way through the relentless dry barren.

Beyond Kiba stood the mountains in all of its glory, and only a mile away. Not only was the mountains massively tall, it stretched East and West at least 200 miles on both sides. Like a wall created by the forces of nature to hide Paradise from the world. At this close range I was able to distinguish certain details in clear view. The mountains rocks appeared mainly a reddish color, and smooth like clay. There was little vegetation - much like the desert it rested upon - to tell if other animals inhabited the slopping terrain. What fascinated me though were the multiple rock layers embedded in the walls. As if over the decades, rock had built on top of each other, forming this amazing giant structure. I've never seen anything like it. Another interesting discovery were the colors on each layer. Most were common earth tones like bronze, yellow and red, while others shone unusual shades of soft greens, lilacs and cerulean. Could such impossible colors exist on rocks? I was rendered speechless by the mountains beauty.

Among the group, Kiba seemed determined to get into the mountains as he constantly reminded to walk faster. When I questioned him about it, he responded fervently, "The scent of the Lunar Flower is getting stronger. Can't you smell it?"

His ambiguous words rearranged my face into a very confused expression. Lifting my nose, a quick whiff of the air told me there were no traces of flowers nearby. All I got was salty sand. I didn't know how a Lunar Flower should smell. At the end, I simply gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"It's freaking hot," Groaned Hige. He lifted his hand and started fanning himself. "I think I'm dying in this heat."

"Good." Said Tsume. "At least I'll have a nice fat meal."

Worry and shock flitted across Hige's face. "W-what?" He stuttered. "You would eat me, Tsume?"

The grey wolf adjusted the pup's dead weight on his shoulder before shifting indifferent golden eyes at the nervous wolf who still waited for an answer. After a moment, Tsume looked away. "I don't eat junk food." There was no humor in his deep voice.

"If it's food you're after," I suggested, observing the highlanders summit, "then maybe we can find game on the mountains."

"_We?_" Unkindly emphasized Tsume, and came to a sudden stand still. My feet halted on the hot desert floor, dumbfounded and wondering what I did this time. "I don't remember the part where we let you join our pack." He shot an annoyed glance in my direction. "So get lost."

My happy mood died instantly. The wind returned with a light breeze that cooled the sweat on my skin and the heat building in my chest. I didn't bother fixing the loose strands of hair that waved in front of my face. I was too busy glaring silently at the foul tempered wolf. Tsume clearly hated my guts; which puzzled me to the utmost fullest.

"Lay off, Tsume." Interjected Hige. "She can do whatever she wants."

But Tsume ignored the husky wolf. Curling back his upper lip, he bared long fangs as a warning sign. "Don't make me repeat myself . . ."

I knew exactly why I couldn't turn around and go back. My eyes drifted to Toboe hanging upside down behind Tsume. As I watched his facial muscles twitch, a heavy sense of discomfort swept over me. I always felt on edge when disclosing personal information with anyone, especially complete strangers. So, I developed a defense mechanism where I avoid talking about myself. However, putting on a mask of indifference won't help this time. I made an irrevocable commitment to find Paradise, and the only way to accomplish this was by getting accepted into this pack. I had to gain their trust. My jaw clenched, and my sweaty hands curled into fists. When the frustration on Tsume's face intensified, I somehow located a backbone and responded,

"There's nothing for me to go back to." My cryptic words sounded shady even to my own ears. I found my black heels more interesting than Tsume's narrowed, disbelieving eyes. "All I have left now is Paradise. I would do anything to get there."

But my words did little to convince Tsume; he was adamant. "Hn, that's your problem." He said with a gruff, making his point clear.

_So it was like that then._ Feeling slumped in deep dejection for being turned down by a brut - although I shouldn't be surprised - I gathered what dignity I had left and slowly started to walk away from the group. Kiba's next words made me turn to him too eagerly.

"Hold on,"

Standing tall and proud, the sun made Kiba's wise, vibrant blue eyes appear almost white. "If all you have is Paradise," he began, strong and confident, "then you don't need anything else. You can come along if you want. The choice is yours."

Tsume barked menacingly, "Our group doesn't need more wolves to slow us down, Kiba!"

"Our group needs more wolves who believe in Paradise." Kiba retort in a clipped voice, ending the conversation as he walked away, not once bothering to check if we were following. Tsume glared after Kiba with hardly suppressed contempt.

A long arm was unexpectedly thrown over me. I relaxed when I found Hige grinning like a fool. "Welcome to the pack, Amber." He congratulated enthusiastically, tilting his head to the side. "You're in luck. We happen to be the worlds most badass wolves."

His stomach took that opportunity to growl loudly.

A small smile crept to my lips. "And worlds most hungriest." I added half-heartedly.

Hige raised a hand behind his neck, laughing sheepishly.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and tossed my hair wildly around my head. As I fought back the blonde tangles, something beyond my knowledge caught and held my attention. I frowned from the size of the thing growing in the distance. There was a wall of dark clouds rolling dangerously in our direction - twice as bigger and twice as taller than any mountain. It continued to grow! A strong gust of wind mixed with sand blasted over my face, and I had to shield my eyes.

"What the hell is that?" Hige slowly started to back away from the monstrous clouds. "A rainstorm?"

I followed suit, sensing danger. "That's no rainstorm,"

"It's a sandstorm!" Shouted Tsume, alarmed. "Run!"

And that's exactly what we did. The four of us raced to the mountains with blinding speed. Even so, the sandstorm's thick billows swarmed over our heads, blocking out the sun and engulfing us in a hazy red overcast. The storm roared angrily, threatening to trap us in its greedy clutches and never let go. The wind blowing grains of sand against my face made it difficult to see. Luckily, the train tracks proved useful by being a direct guide to the mountains. Desperate to get out of the sandstorm, I plunged forward, kicking off sand behind me. I didn't realize how fast I was going until I no longer saw the others. But I dared not stop. _Keep going. You're almost there,_ I chanted in my head encouragingly. My legs felt numb with exhaustion by the time I reached a black opening in the mountains. Disregarding the multiple signs of 'Keep Out' 'Danger,' I hurtled over a traffic barrier and entered the cold darkness.

I placed one hand against the cavern walls as I tried to breath evenly. Lifting my head, I could only make out dark shapes and shadows. That's when something hard crashed into my back, sending us toppling to the ground. It fell with all its weight on top of me. With my pounding heart in my throat, I quickly scrambled away. Twisting around in the sand, I got a good look at the intruder. Alert blue eyes stared into my terrified yellow ones. Kiba was crouched on hands and knees, prepared to attack the person he ran into. But once he recognized me in the darkness, his muscles relaxed.

"What happened to the others?" I asked him.

As if on cue, Hige and Tsume jumped into the cave. Leaning forward on his knees, Hige coughed and gagged the sand out of his mouth. Everyone was covered from head to toe in sand. Tsume shook his body, tossing sheets of sand in every direction. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed Tsume's arms were empty. Where was Toboe? Footfalls at the entrance grabbed my attention. Covered in white sand, and spitting grains from his mouth, was the young pup. When Toboe's gaze met mine, his face erupted with a huge smile.

"You're here!" He exclaimed needlessly, tackling me in an ecstatic embrace.

Despite the lack of oxygen in my lungs, I managed to say, "Yes, and unfortunately so are you." Toboe laughed anyway, dismissing my snarky comment. Deep down, I was happy to see him doing okay, but I would never let him know that. "Get off weirdo." I growled, shoving the pup aside.

Toboe beamed with barely controlled excitement. "This is great! We're gonna have so much fun. We can go hunting, sight seeing, exploring, and you can teach me how to catch big fish. 'Cus you saw how much I struggled with them. I could never-"

"Toboe," Interrupted Tsume, "would you like me to break your jaw for you? That way, you could always keep it open."

The pup flinched at Tsume's bluntness, but continued smiling.

"It's about time you're awake, runt." Hige dusted his arms. "I was beginning to worry."

Toboe seemed lost. "Why?"

Tsume raised his right eyebrow. "Do you have any idea what happened to you?"

"Hmm . . ." Toboe touched his pointy chin and looked up at the ceiling as if the answer laid there. "The last thing I remember is Gino giving Amber and me water." His big brown eyes fell on me. "Where is Gino anyway?" And then he paused, as if something of great importance struck him. "Wait! How did you guys find us?"

Hige looked amazed. "He's completely clueless,"

Unbelievable. Toboe had slept through the entire thing. He never knew that unscrupulous, depraved monsters intentions. While Hige explained Toboe's close encounter with becoming wolf barbecue, I turned away, reframing from spurting words I would later regret, and followed after Kiba who had already vanished deep into the dark cavern.

On the seventh step, I heard Toboe shriek, "I was almost _what_?!"

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**A/N:** Oh, Toboe. Smh

Raise your hand if you think I'm making Tsume a little too douche-y lol ahh! i cant help it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel he's always a jerk and cranky until someone proves him wrong. What do you think guys?

Anyway, I'm so grateful for all your inputs, helpful tips, and elaborate reviews. It truly inspires me to write better. So, keep up the great work guys! Please help me improve by any means necessary :)

P.S its very likely that I will be changing the title MoonRise to Eclipsed. I feel the story plot fits better with that name instead. So don't be alarmed when you see the title change in the next couple of days.

Until next time, have a good one!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**12. PLUNDGE**

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SAND POURED ENDLESSLY FROM UNSEEN HOLES HIGH ABOVE IN THE CAVERNS CEILING.

I avoided walking under the falls of sand by steering carefully around, and sometimes between them. Removing the adhesive powder proved to be very difficult after getting an unwanted shower in the sandstorm. It was coarse and sticky and rough and it just got everywhere: my mouth, inside my ears, in my fur, and unmentionable places where I didn't think possible to get sand. I convinced myself that sand, and all of its irritating properties, was a useless element the world could do with out. I certainly wouldn't miss it.

As if the mountains heard my growing hatred for its old companion, loose sand fell from an unseen hole in the ceiling at the exact moment I stepped undeathe it. A veil of sand spilled over my head.

_Son of a . . . _

That time, I didn't bother dusting myself off. Honestly, what was the point? So I just stood there, coated in a second layer of insufferable sand. The last grains rolled down the narrow of my nose, and I decided at that moment sand had become my newest enemy.

About ten feet ahead, Hige heard the rush of sand falling and stopped to check over his shoulder. When he caught sight of me, I could tell he was repressing laughter. I shot him a glare that obviously said 'Not. One. Word.' The husky wolf covered his mouth to hide the smile playing on his lips, as if that alone would set me off into a raging mess. Did I really look that upset? With that thought in mind, I relaxed my scowl into a sullen pout.

Instead of making fun of me, Hige dodged the chance and asked a question that caught me completely off guard. "Has your shoulder healed up?" He asked.

I blinked, throughly shocked. "How did you-"

"Know about the wound?" Hige filled in with a self satisfied smirk. Lifting his index finger, he touched the point of his nose. "I happen to have a very strong sense of smell. Nothing can get passed me, not even weeks old dried blood."

My face took on an understanding look. _Oh, so that explains his observant nature. He has a great nose! _"That's very convenient." I supplied with a small smile of my own. "And to answer your question, my wound scabbed over but it's still slightly tender." When I noticed Hige's face crumble in deep concern, I quickly had to add, "It's nothing serious."

Pushing himself off the stone walls, Hige started to approach me. "Do you mind if I take a look?" He asked, tilting his head to one side.

The wolf's closeness put me on edge - a habit I've developed when anyone entered my personal space - but I made sure not to make it obvious. I reluctantly lowered my guard, and permitted Hige's request with a slight nod. My body instantly tensed when he gently peeled back the dressings. He inspected my injury with keen eyes. After ten seconds, I counted in my head, Hige finally looked up at me.

"It doesn't look too bad." Hands slid back to his side when he leaned away. "But in the meantime, I would lay off using that arm."

Fingers adjusted the bandages on my injured shoulder while I gave Hige a confused look. "How do you expect me to walk then?"

"Simple." Hige's self-assured grin grew wider. He took a short step back and opened his arms to me. "I can carry you."

Displeased with the offer, I took a long step back from his friendly disposition. _Unless I'm dying or unconscious_. But at the end, I decided to try a less harsher approach. "No thanks, I can manage."

He stared at me for a moment, and then shrugged. "Suit yourself. My offer still stands in case you change your mind Miss I'm-Too-Cool.'"

Hige chuckled when he managed to make me smile. I turned away, and regarded my surroundings. Thankfully, slivers of sunlight slipped through the openings in the ceiling, penetrating the damp darkness where we stood. Rustic tools long forgotten laid on the sandy ground, and several burned out lightbulbs hung in a straight line on the wall, held together by a thick cable. But the deeper we went, the darker it became. The sandstorm's winds produced mighty howls as they whistled through the mountains interior, muffling the low indecipherable voices of our other pack members who ventured into one of the five underground passages ahead. They've been searching for the best way out of the mountains far too long. Growing impatient, I stepped toward the passage I saw the wolves disappear through an hour ago, prepared to take matters into my own hands.

My heart leaped inside my chest when Toboe's body suddenly materialized out of the shadows. He smiled apologetically for startling me. "Hey! I think we found a way out. Follow me." He explained, taking the lead into the dark passage. We left the warmth of the sun behind, and the mountains cold breathe swallowed us whole.

Treading through the shoulder-to-shoulder stone walls, there was a sense of confinement that threatened to fog my thoughts with anxiety. I have never been known to be scared of closed spaces, but I suspected anyone would be if their bodies were squished between boulders. Regularing my breathing, I followed blindly after the pup down the winding, dark passage. My hands stretched outward, feeling the damp, rough walls as I waited for my eyes to adjust in the black void. Concentrating on the inconsistent sound of our feet shuffling through gravel helped block out thoughts of enclosure. For the most part, it relaxed my nerves. The caverns narrow passage went on for about half a mile, and then a faint blue light brighten the cavern. My pace quickened, urging Toboe to move faster. The narrow walls opened up into a huge and impressive elongated chamber. I arched my neck to look up and thousands and thousands of glow slugs clung onto the rocky ceiling, illuminating the cavern in a bright blue glow. Its high ceiling made me feel like I was inside a cathedral.

Just then, I was suddenly reminded of giants in black cloaks, channels filled with blood, and demonic red eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the horrid images out of my head. _That dream, _I thought to myself,_ why did I have that grotesque dream?_

As if from inside the depths of my head, I heard a voice beckon out to me from the darkness.

_Amber . . . Amber_

Said the voice - slowly, deep, filled with joyous malice, and promising pain.

_Amber . . . Amber_

It said again, sending electrifying chills that crawled up my arms. At first it sounded distant, almost like a whisper. But after each time it called my name, I could tell the voice was growing louder, getting closer and closer.

And then, it was like it came from right behind me.

_AMBER!_

My eyes shot wide open to find a concerned Hige, Tsume glowering at me suspiciously, and Kiba's inquisitive blue eyes. But it was Toboe who spoke.

"Amber, are you okay?" He took a tentative step toward me. "I've been calling you."

I stared at the pup for a moment, heart beat erratic. "Yeah," I put on a scowl in attempt to hide the fear still coursing through me. "Of course I'm okay."

But Kiba didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure?" He asked, ensuring the validity of my words. "You look pale."

My cold, clammy fingers brushed strands of hair behind my right ear. "It must be the blue glow in here, cause I'm fine." I marched pass Toboe and Kiba, going through the gap between their bodies. _What's happening to me_? I thought nervously, tucking my hands inside my black jean pockets_. It all felt so real._

The wolves dismissed my weirdness as mundane and forgot all about it. Thank goodness for that. As I walked deeper into the huge chamber, my ears perked at the sound of rushing water. Around the tower of boulders was a magnificent underground waterfall. Awestruck from the size of the fall, I held my breathe when I reached the edge of the precipice. The drop was deep, the falls emptying inside a massive pool.

"This is going to slow us down." Groaned Tsume, surveying the large gap wearily.

"Hey! This must be where that tragic accident happened twenty years ago." Recalled Toboe. He looked up at Kiba and continued his story, "Gino told me a minor struck water in these mountains, causing a lot of people to drown."

"Don't mention that name." I blurted without meaning to, and Toboe threw in a quick apology. Crossing arms in front of my chest, I turned to the only person who knew the way out of this place. "How the heck are we crossing this monster?"

The alpha wolf crouched low to peer over the edge with furrowed brows, staring down at the black water 200 feet below. Making a displeased grunt, Kiba then looked up to scan the walls nearest to us. A glint of hope brightened his eyes. "See that hole over there?" He pointed at something looming next to the falls. My eyes squinted and I saw a separate tunnel adjacent to where we stood. "That must be our only way out."

"How do you suppose we get there?" Hige looked pensive. "Fly across?"

Kiba rose, strightening his posture. "We climb the walls."

"But its dangerous," mumbled Toboe. The fear was evident in his voice.

"Yeah, and Amber has an injured shoulder." Reasoned Hige. "I dont think its wise to have her climbing walls."

Toboe turned to me at once. "I thought you said your wound healed."

"It reopened in Junction City when I fell on it." I clarified before narrowing my eyes at Hige for using my injury as a means to escape wall climbing. "Don't handicap me, Hige. I already told you that I can handle my own."

"I'm just saying we should turn around and look for another way across." Hige suggested.

"Do whatever you want." Kiba grumbled in annoyance. He moved forward and heaved himself up onto a narrow horizontal surface projecting from the wall.

Hige made a face. "Can you believe that guy? He's gonna get himself killed."

"Well, I'm not about to stick around for another hour." I argued, carefully placing one foot on the natural ledge. I pressed my back flat against the wall and slowly moved like Kiba.

Tsume sighed and force himself to follow Kiba and I.

"Wait for me, Tsume!" Shouted Toboe, hastily scrambing after the grey mutt.

It didn't take long for reluctant Hige to give in.

I kept my head up, mind focused and body steady as I slid my feet forward on the steep ledge. Breathing evenly, I clung onto the rocky walls and moved along again. Inhale, grab, and slide. Inhale, grab, and slide. Inhale, grab, and slide. I could hear the others, but I dared not look back. My eyes were glued to the passage by the waterfall. It led to open fields, trees, sunlight and Paradise. Almost there. Just a little more . . .

Half way through, something terrifying happened.

_Crack!_

My stomach literally dropped into my pelvis when the thin ledge shook. I pressed my back against the walls, and desperately clawed on for balance.

"What the hell was that?" Shouted Hige, frantic.

My heartbeat accelarated when realization dawned on me: The ledge can't handle our combined weight. I looked over at Kiba, frightened for what was to become of us, and his wild eyes locked onto mine.

_CRACK!_

The ledge crumbled underneath our feet and we fell into the dark depths below.

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**A/N:** Another cliffhanger?! Whaaaaaat? I should be ashamed of myself. Let's be clear, I'm not, but I should be :P

I didn't feel like putting a quote, too sleepy. Anyway, I apologize for the extensive wait, and not writing any cute moments with the dashing Kiba. But I assure you there will be plenty of Kiba action in the up coming chapters. I'm trying to develop Amber's character first, so sit tight and enjoy the suspense.


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